


soft hearts; electric souls (UNDERGOING BIG EDITING CHANGES)

by signsoflight



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Angst, Bad Parenting, Betrayal, Canon-Typical Violence, Domestic, Everyone is actually, Family Issues, Fluff, Homophobia, Immortal Rangers, Inspired By Tumblr Prompts and Headcannons, Kimberly Hart/Trini-centric, Magic, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Multiple, Swearing, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Texting, The Author Regrets Everything, Trini's Last Name is Not Kwan, Trini's PoV, Twitter, Zack Taylor & Trini are Bros, bc i can't fucking write, bi kim, bros for life, chosen family, eventual asexual Zack, it takes a while tbh, probably occ everyone, queer trini, sappy-ness, slowburn, so is Kim, trini is a gay mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-02-28 01:40:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 66,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13260927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/signsoflight/pseuds/signsoflight
Summary: The aftermath of Rita's attack is messy to say the least. Trini pieces her life back together in the wake of it all and somehow manages to make something amazing in the process of continuously falling apart.AUTHOR'S NOTE:This story is being rewritten, as in the process of writing more chapters, I have realised there are aspects of it that I don't like and am not happy with. For those who have read the story already, you will be better off re-reading the chapters I have changed before continuing the story. It shouldn't take me too long to edit it all!Update:Chapter One and Two's editing has been completed. Chapter Two now contains things that were in Chapter Three.





	1. never defend; only attack

**Author's Note:**

> I apologise for this. It's terrible and I spent way too long on it to not post it. More chapters will be on the way soon. The writing is pretty descriptive and long so I apologise. I just get so caught up in my love for these losers
> 
> Title from Panic! at the Disco's House of Memories

The moon glowed silver in the deep, dark night sky. The light streamed in through the cracks in the blinds of Trini’s window. She watched the dappled light playing across her bedroom floor, illuminating the room in silvery shadow. 

She huffed a quiet sigh and shifted around in bed. The mattress creaked softly underneath her and she could hear the springs’ quiet protest. Trini’s phone suddenly lit up the darkness, the sudden light bright and harsh in the soft darkness. She couldn’t be bothered to reach up and take the phone off of the bedside table, feeling the aching sort of tiredness in her bones and muscles as she lay there. 

Instead, she simply rolled over and stared at the wall, trying to ignore the fact that she could no longer see the door, nor the window. That someone could be creeping into her room as she lay there and she would be none the wiser. Trini took a deep breath, the sound loud in the quiet of the night, and tried to calm her racing heart. Paranoia made her muscles stiff and her mind alert and she tried to internally persuade herself that she was fine, that no one was coming, that Rita was gone. 

It didn’t help. 

Reluctantly, she rolled over again, and fixed her stare back on the door, the brown wood dark and shrouded in shadows. She listened for any sort of sound but all she could hear was the whistling of the wind outside the window and the quiet creaking of the house.

Trini hated that she tried to find a threat in everything, that she was paranoid enough to not be able to sleep at night. Of course, it wasn’t just worry keeping her up. It was the fact that every time she closed her eyes, she saw Rita, the mottled, pale flesh of her face leaning over her and the sharp feeling of her claws digging into Trini’s skin. It was the fact that every time she drifted off into sleep, she felt the heat from the flames in her Zord, heard the cries of her friends, felt the quiet resignation to her death wash over her. 

She shuddered as she thought of it and sighed deeply and tried to think of something else. 

It was safe to say that none of them, Trini especially, could have expected that they would manage to defeat Rita. When they first walked into the ship under the mines and met Zordon, they didn’t believe any of it. The only thing that kept all of them from dismissing at some sort of fever dream was the fact that their Coins followed them everywhere and did strange shit, and they had these weird new powers. Billy, for example, had been so excited about being a superhero, that when Zordon and Alpha told them about Rita, it was as if they were served a death sentence when they picked up the Coins. 

Jason had originally tried to be optimistic and make them all look on the bright side, but there was no way that he could actually get them to believe they would be ok, or convince himself of that either. They all thought that they were doomed to die at the feet of an intergalactic supervillain, but the lives of everyone in the world rested on their shoulders, and they had no choice. They were just teenagers, and it was frankly ridiculous that Earth was going to be under attack at all, let alone that a group of five fucked up kids were expected to save the world just because some stupid lumps of alien metal that they found in a cliff supposedly chose them.

Yet, in all honesty, it had almost been a relief, being a Ranger. Even though they had to save the whole fucking world, it wasn't like anyone knew who they were. There had been no reputation to protect because no one had ever heard of the Power Rangers and no one knew that it was the five of them who were behind the armour when it all went down, no one knew that they were the ones who saved them all, but also that they could potentially be blamed for a lot of the destruction around town. If the five of them thought that they had it bad from the town and their fellow Angel Grove High students, then everyone knowing that the Power Rangers were them would be 100 times worse, if not more.

They were anonymous to the rest of the world, so if they screwed up, although everyone would be dead, no one would know it was their fault. That had to be a plus, right? And it was a way that they could help, that they could actually make a difference to a town that had labelled them all screw ups for one reason or another. 

Trini was also grateful for the camaraderie that emerged within the group in the face of certain death at the hands of Rita. At first, she had resented the fact that she was stuck with this group of people that didn’t know her and wouldn’t care about her if not for the fact that they could all punch super hard and run super fast and all that shit. She didn’t mean anything to them, only her abilities did. But, as they trained together, and got to know each other, Trini would be lying if she didn’t feel some sort of connection to the four others. It grew slowly, sure, and against her will, but it was there. 

It was there in the moments when Jason would smile softly at them all in the few seconds of rest after training. It was there when Zack would crack a joke and Trini would roll her eyes but also find herself smiling at his self-satisfied smirk and his cocky expression. It was there when Billy would babble excitedly about his projects, and it was there when Kim would look at them all like she didn’t deserve this, like she knew it was too good to be true. Trini knew what that felt like, and she hated that Kim, no matter who she was before finding the Coins, had to feel like that. No one deserved that, not even a cheerleader. 

Eventually, it reached a point where there was no way that she could deny that they were all friends now, and it was like she finally had a place in the world that belonged to her. There was now somewhere where she felt at home, though it wasn't a place. It was with people that only wanted her to be the person that she actually was, which was a welcome change. Especially as the world was a place that forced people to wear masks, made them morph from the people that they were into twisted versions of themselves. No one knew that better than Trini herself.

The night that Rita broke into her room, Trini thought she was going to die. Plain and simple - there wasn't a way to get around it. Looking into Rita's eyes, she had known that it was coming and there was nothing she could do about it. To be truthful, she was more concerned about the wellbeing of her family after Rita finished with her. Once she was gone, there was nothing stopping the villain from killing the rest of the family.

But, to her (and everyone else’s) immense surprise, she was alive. Trini was still here. Her heart was still beating, her lungs were still taking in oxygen, she was still alive. She found that unbelievable, that she still had a chance to help, to fight. 

But she was not stupid enough to think that she had come away from the encounter unscathed. The scars on her neck were proof that the fear and paranoia and worry she felt wasn’t irrational. Trini could feel it in the spike of her heartbeat every time she felt water drip onto her face, the clenching of her muscles every time that she lay alone in her bed looking up at the ceiling, and the breath she lost every time that she saw flashes of green and gold. 

It had a base in the way that that monster’s fingers had curled around her neck, and her nails had dug into Trini’s skin, her teeth had glinted yellow in the dim light from the streetlight outside her window.

It was not wrong to say that Rita haunted her, in a way. The defeat of the villain was unexpected, and the interim between her fall and the supposed predicted coming of the next villain made her tense. Although it had been cathartic to watch Rita be defeated, like some sort of closure, she still couldn’t get the evil Ranger out of her head. Trini had lain in bed the night that they beat Rita, heart still racing even though it had been the afternoon when they had fought her, blood pumping fast around her body and came to the sudden realisation that for the past week and a half, she had been mentally preparing to die without even realising it.

She had been ready to say goodbye to her family for the last time, or at least she thought that she had been ready. Trini thought that she had been emotionally prepared to die for a place that didn’t care about her, but she realised that all she had been was apprehensive. She wasn’t ready to die, there was no way that she could be.

All of a sudden, even as thoughts of Rita flitted through her head, there came a rattling at her window. It was like someone was trying to get into the room through it. 

Trini jolted up out of her lying position on the bed, her eyes widening with shock and horror. Her mind immediately began to conjure up thoughts of Rita coming back for her, making her pay for controlling the arm that had slapped her into space and making her pay for ever thinking that she could be free of the evil Ranger. Her heart beat erratically and adrenaline rushed through her body in anticipation of an attack

Then, her window slowly creaked open, and at the same second, as Trini was about to leap forward at her attacker, Kim popped her head through the window. Their eyes met, with Kim’s comically widening when she saw Trini about to launch at her with her fists raised. Automatically, the taller girl backed away but seeing as she was stuck halfway through the window, that didn’t quite work.

Kim began to fall backwards, yelling out for Trini to help her. She rushed forward and grabbed her hands, tugging Kim back from falling off the window ledge and pulling her into her room.

‘What the fuck, Kim!’ she hissed, with her voice coming out in pants from the panic and her heart racing in her chest. Kim looked flustered but glared at Trini.

‘Well, sorry for not expecting to be assaulted the second I came through your window!’

Trini looked at her confused, ‘What part of crawling through someone’s window in the middle of the night without their permission or prior knowledge doesn’t invite attack? You have my number but you didn’t think to, I dunno, send me a warning text?!’

Kim opened her mouth to retort before appearing to think over what Trini said and subsequently ducking her head and rubbing her neck with a sheepish expression on her face. ‘Yeah, I guess that makes sense.’

Trini scoffed and turned back to return to her nice, warm, comfortable bed, sliding under the duvet and enveloping herself in its soft warmth. The mattress creaked as it took on her weight, the springs being old and the fabric worn with age. She turned over to see Kim standing awkwardly at the foot of her bed.

‘Dude, come on, it’s like one am and fucking freezing, get in.’

Kim chuckle lightly, shed her jacket and slipped off her shoes before climbing in beside Trini, the two of them having to squeeze as it was only a twin size bed. ‘Oh, shit,’ Trini squealed softly when she felt Kim’s icy skin on her back, wriggling to the edge of the mattress to get away from the chill

On the nightstand, her phone suddenly lit up again with another message, probably from Zack - the guy had a habit of texting her late at night - even though she hated talking to people after a certain hour. But she loved him, he was her best friend and she normally couldn’t bring herself to not reply, hating the idea of leaving him lonely if all he wanted was someone to talk to 

However, tonight, Trini ignored the buzzing and harsh glowing of her phone, instead choosing to focus on the comforting warmth coming from the body next to hers. Kim smelled like the rain, like the morning dew, but also like lavender. 

It was a smell that she had come to associate with the other girl over past few weeks that they had spent together, and it was something that made her heart calm and her body relax, despite the fact that she would deny that till her death. Trini was reluctant to find that, even now, as she was one second away from a heart attack because of Kim, she found that her muscles were loosening simply with the presence of the other girl.

Since the five of them had become friends, Trini had never felt less alone. But she had to admit, though she loved all of the other Rangers, Kim was definitely the person that she felt most connected to. It was like that bond that Zordon was always droning on about was actually real and tangible and solid between the two of them in a way that it never quite seemed to be with the others. 

It made Trini feel weirdly guilty - Zack was her best friend and Kim and Jason sort of knew each other before this whole mess. If anyone should be connected to the taller girl, it should be Jason, but for some weird reason, it was Trini. They hadn’t made the others aware of this, but Trini was aware that each of them felt more connected to someone else in the team. For example, Billy and Jason always seemed to be together, and they seemed to connect on a different level than anyone else did with those two. Though, to be fair, Trini sometimes saw Zack looking at Jason with the same sort of look that the Red Ranger looked at Billy with - that could only end in disaster if what she was right about was happening.

But when it came to Trini and Kim, there was nothing that could rival the bond that they seemed to have with each other. Whether they were sharing/fighting over a doughnut in Krispy Kreme or exchanging witty banter or studying together, it was like there was this connection between the two of them that was always present, something that electrified the air around them, made them gravitate to each other, made them in sync as if they existed on the same wavelengths as each other. 

They were connected, but it was something that neither of the two wanted to acknowledge for the fear of breaking it. Trini was almost ashamed to admit that it was the most real connection she had felt to another person in a long time. She also wasn’t sure about how Ranger-oriented it was.

She knew that it wasn’t something to ignore, that it would probably have an effect on them as Rangers considering how much emphasis is placed on teamwork - they literally couldn’t morph until they all admitted that they would die for each other, after only 10 days of knowing each other, which was a little intense. However, there was currently the option to ignore it as whatever connection there was between the two of them didn’t seem to be creating any issues so Trini was going to go with the ignoring option for now.

‘So, why did you run to my house in the middle of the night and attempt to break into my room?’ Trini said conversationally, as if that was a normal thing for a teenager to do.

The other girl laughed again, a soft, quiet sound that make Trini’s heartbeat irregularly for some reason, before replying, ‘I don’t know, I just, after the past couple of weeks-’

She cut her off, nodding. ‘I get it, Kim.’ Trini’s voice was soft for once, losing the edge that it normally had to it. It was clear that she was vulnerable, but somehow, Trini didn’t mind showing that side of herself to Kim. For some reason, that felt alright. And she certainly didn’t want to think about what that might mean, not when she could instead be appreciating the warmth radiating from Kim, the way that her hair fell about her shoulder, the small smile on her face; all without overanalysis.

But, she wasn’t lying when she said that she understood what Kim meant - it had been what hell of a couple of days. Trini didn’t think that she would make it past what it had all been building up to - finally fighting Rita - and finding herself on the other side of a day that she thought she wouldn’t survive was nerve-wracking. Trini had been prepared to die for Angel Grove, for her family and, first and foremost, for her fellow Rangers. But she had gotten caught up in the excitement of being a ‘superhero’ and the apprehension that came with the prediction of Rita. It was only now hitting her that she was bound to these people as a Ranger. And Trini found that hard to process. 

It was a weird thing to believe that your own end is nigh, and then make it through to the other side of a situation you thought would kill you.

She didn’t know how Kim was handling it, and it was obvious that the other girl wouldn’t have come to Trini’s house in the middle of the night if she didn’t want or need to talk about, so Trini shifted in the bed so that she was lying on her side, facing Kim.

‘Do you wanna talk about it?’ she muttered quietly, her voice heavy with sleep and fatigue, but her eyes sharp and attentive, flicking over Kim’s face, searching for any signs of emotion on the other girl or any clues to her wellbeing, but there was nothing except an expression of doubt that wasn’t uncommon on Kim’s face lately.

The other girl sighed and turned to face Trini, mirroring her position in the bed.

‘Uhh, I don’t really know, which I guess is strange considering I was the one who came to you,’ Kim looked sheepish at that and nervous, as if she felt like she was being an inconvenience. Trini was quick to remedy that.

‘Don’t worry about it, Kim. Sometimes, the presence of people is comforting more than actually talking.’

‘Yeah, I guess,’

‘But, just a little warning, if you plan on staying the night, be prepared to wake up early so you can hide from my mom.’ Kim looked confused so she elaborated. ‘Remember the campfire?’ The taller girl nodded. ‘Yeah, the whole “not understanding” thing would apply to finding another girl in my bed with me.’

Realisation appeared to dawn on Kim’s face and she blushed at the connotations of Trini’s mom would think.

‘All right, all right. I’ll set an alarm?’

Trini nodded, laughing slightly at Kim's flushed face, before turning back to have her back to Kim. ‘G’night, Princess,’

‘Good night, Trini,’ came the soft reply. Then, a while later, ‘And, thanks.’

Despite the two of them saying that, neither one fell asleep. Trini’s head was still rushing with thoughts of the day, of defeating Rita. It was kind of hard for her to wrap her head around it, around the fact that she just helped save the town. But, the apparent victory didn’t quell her doubts.

Sure, the five of thee were hailed and labelled as heroes of the town, and they had been chosen by the almighty ‘morphing grid’ but Trini wasn’t going to pretend that being able to beat up some evil sorceress from outer space made them perfect people or even well suited to the job of protecting the Zeo Crystal.

Kim’s voice suddenly broke the silence, laden with a heaviness that almost sounded like reluctance but was something more like hesitance.

‘You nearly died, Trini.’ She turned her head to the side sharply to see that Kim was looking at her, a serious look in her brown eyes and an expression that showed just how much this had been weighing on her mind.

Trini sighed and replied, ‘Yeah, I know.’

‘Billy did die.’

This time, her voice broke slightly when she said, ‘I know.’

Kim shifted before sighing and saying, ‘When I was in my Zord, and Goldar was crushing it… When the heat was getting too much… I thought I was going to die too, but this time I wouldn’t come back.’

‘You know, I would do anything I could to find a way to bring you back,’ Trini said seriously not willing to let Kim doubt how much she meant to her for even a second.

Trini heard a sharp intake of breath from Kim, the girl almost scoffing as she said, ‘You don’t have to lie to me, T.’

‘Then it’s a good thing that I’m not lying.’

‘I’m sorry,’

‘For what?’ Trini replied simply.

‘Being a nuisance. You’re probably going through a lot more than I am right now.’

Under the duvet, Trini reached blindly for her friend’s hand, clutching it tightly and looking her dead in the eye when she replied, ‘Just because we had different experiences doesn't mean that your pain is any less real than anyone else's.’

A smile pulled at the corners of Kim’s lips, but Trini wasn’t satisfied. She knew that Kim had been full of discontent back when she was a cheerleader and that had been something that she had hid for a long time - Kim was no stranger to hiding her feelings. A simple smile wasn’t going to convince Trini that she was alright. Still holding Kim's hand, she continued to speak.

‘You know, I don’t know what I would do without you,’ She said the words casually, but Trini watched the way that Kim reacted closely, registering the way that her features changed to portray the shock that she felt at first before melting into a bashful smile, one that was accompanied with a twinkle in her chocolate eyes, and a blush on her cheeks. This was enough for Trini, at least for the night. ‘Good night, Kim,’ she chuckled slightly, before turning back over. She let go of the other girl's hand and immediately felt herself missing the warmth and comfort that Kim's hand in hers had provided.

After a while, Trini heard the other girl’s breathing even out and slow down, and she knew that she had drifted off to sleep. That was a good thing, because it Kim was anything like her, she hadn’t slept in the past couple of days.

However, unlike her friend, sleep continued to elude her, the ghost of Rita’s hands around her neck haunting her still. Trini was beginning to doubt that she would ever really be able to sleep peacefully - not like she used to be able to, at least. This was the type of thing that was normally permanently scarring. But tired of looking on the grim side of things, and wanting for once to have a mind not so burdened by such heavy thoughts, Trini tried to clear her mind and breathe steadily and deeply, in an effort to trick her body into going to sleep.

After a while of tossing and turning, Trini huffed, fed up of trying so hard to not think of anything of Rita, which obviously only led to her thinking about Rita.

Facing facts, they all knew that they weren’t loved in Angel Grove, the town certainly had no issue with making that clear to them. And ever since she moved here, to this godforsaken town, when she was lying awake in her room, blood boiling from yet another argument with her mother, Trini allowed herself to harbour a bitterness and hate within her for the town of Angel Grove.

But, thoughts of how bad the town was, for once, wasn’t keeping her awake. Instead, Trini thought about whether or not they were really deserving recipients of such an honour as the mantle of being Power Rangers. To be fair, Zordon talked about how noble his team was, and from his position, despite his patronising and condescending way of talking to the current Rangers, it was hard to not feel some sort of awe when she looked at him. He was a hero and they were just a bunch of teenagers. The other four were all amazing in their own right, but who the hell was she and what right did she have to be some sort of superhero? 

To be more precise, Trini felt like she was a disappointment when he and the old Rangers seemed like such a good team and it had taken one of their teammates dying for her and the others to even morph.

She was used to being a disappointment to others, but it bothered her that she had been trusted with the mantle of being a Power Ranger - the Coin had chosen her after millions of years, apparently, and the idea of not being enough again wasn’t something that she liked. Because, though she was apparently chosen by the Power, there was also the fact that she was the first person to find the Yellow Power Coin after all these years - it wasn’t like it had rejected anyone before Zack smashed it out of the cliff face for her.

Trini couldn’t help but feel like she wasn’t the first choice for the position, she was the only choice at the time. And as soon as there was someone worthy enough of being the Yellow Ranger - truly worthy, unlike her - that person would undoubtedly take her place, and rightfully so. Trini couldn’t handle working in a team, and she had a distrust of most people that would mean that she would simply ruin the dynamic. But, she reasoned, it wasn’t like the others were exactly what most people would think of as superhero material.

**\--**

**8 Days Before Rita:**

Trini sighed, already over the clamour and noise of the cafeteria. She was so sick of the small town-ness that perpetuated everything - she was tired of the way that everyone knew everyone so it was way harder to blend in, tired of the suffocating loneliness that she got when everywhere was full of people who were all friends and she was noticeably alone. 

Upon their arrival to Angel Grove, her parents had proudly declared that this was it, that this was the last move that they would put their family through. Her father had promised her that she would graduate from high school here and he had promised her brothers that they would able to join sports teams and make friends and that this was it, this was where their life was going to be. 

David and Juan had eaten it up eagerly, but Trini was a little more sceptical. There was no chance that any of that would happen. Her little brothers might not remember as well, but Trini had been doing this shit for longer than them and she had heard her parents promise that this would be the last stop for them, only to pack up the house and the car and move somewhere new a couple months later. 

Whilst it was true that the whole ‘Power Rangers’ thing changed stuff, but it wasn’t like Trini could use that as an excuse to stay in town or anything when her parents decided that it was time to pack up and move again. If she was this supposed superhero, meant to protect the Zeo Crystal or whatever, then she wasn’t going to be any use when she was living a state away. And it wasn’t like she could just give the Power Coin away - that didn’t seem to be how it worked. Otherwise, she definitely would have instantly tossed this shit as soon as she woke up and punched a hole through her bedside table.

Trini knew that all this, no matter Zordon’s nonsecical and cryptic babble about destiny and fate, was probably going to a last a couple more months at most. They had already been here longer than expected. But moving town didn’t matter if what Zordon said about Rita was true - they would all be dead and there would be nowhere left to move to.

Everything was promised to last forever, but it was all temporary. Angel Grove was the same, Trini was sure of it. So what was the point of making friends just to leave them? The power of fucking friendship wouldn’t save them from Rita, from her moving away, from any of this shit. As far as Trini could tell, the yellow glowing Coin was either a death sentence or a crappy prank that would stop being funny as soon as she moved away.

She just wanted to be somewhere quiet for once. Trini finally reached into her pocket, pulled out the coiled wires of her earphones and slid them into her ears. She jammed them into her phone’s headphone jack, pressed play and breathed a deep sigh of relief when a guitar began to sound in her ears and she leaned back in her chair. 

A feeling of relaxation finally washed over her as she sat alone at a sticky, rickety table in the Angel Grove High cafeteria. 

At least, until there was the slamming sound of another lunch tray landing next to hers. Zack Taylor slid into the chair beside her with a shit eating grin that the fucker probably thought was charming. He had been bothering her for a while, and wouldn’t leave her alone no matter how much she asked him to. The guy either had no friends of his own, wanted to be an asshole or was simply a stalker. Either way, he was convinced that the two of them were meant to have some epic friendship or some shit like that. 

She just scowled at him. ‘What the fuck do you want?’

‘Now that’s not a nice way to greet a friend!’ the boy pretended to scold her, still grinning that infuriating smirk that made Trini want to punch him. She glared at him darkly and felt a triumphant feeling swell in her chest when he scooted his chair marginally further away from her than it was before. 

But Zack still stayed, munching away happily on his food. Her music still blasted in her ears, obvious to him that she didn’t want to talk - and she never talked to him anyway. Besides, for fuck's sake, her music was loud enough to be heard without earphones even with the ever constant buzz of noise in the cafeteria.

‘Look, man.’ She said finally, setting down her apple that she had just been about to enjoy and pausing her music. He looked at her expectantly, one eyebrow raised. ‘Don't you have other friends or something?’ 

‘Aha!’ He yelled, pointing a triumphant finger at her with a wide grin on his face. ‘Other friends implies that you are a friend of mine! You admit that we are friends!’

She scowled and glared and waited for him to chill out, for his smile to stop stretching all the way to his ears before continuing. ‘Isn’t there anyone else for you to bother.’

‘I have other friends if that’s what you're asking.’ he replied cheerfully before turning back to whatever unidentifiable mush the cafeteria was serving out today

‘Then why the fuck are you here.’ She deadpanned, not even making it a question, more of a challenge. Zack looked up and stared at her, a weird expression on his face. Eventually, he softly replied,

‘Because I want you as a friend too. Plus, if we are supposed to be saving the world together, it makes sense that we at least get to know each other a little’

She didn’t know how to reply to that. Trini muttered under her breath, ‘What if I don’t want to be your friend?’

‘Then I’ll leave you alone from now on.’ He shrugged but made no move to leave. Trini looked at him weirdly, trying to a gauge of what he was thinking - but the boy simply focused on his food and the world around them and, at times, Trini herself. 

He seemed both entirely unbothered, and entirely focused on the conversation at hand - it was the most concentration and calm that she had seen from him in the entire time that she had known him. Granted that was only a couple of days, but combined with the way that she had seen him act around the school and the mines, he was normally energetic, impulsive and rambunctious - not with this focused and calm aura that he appeared to be projecting.

After a silence between the two of them, with Zack not even resuming eating. The next question, so obvious and waiting to be said, seemed to be stuck in her throat, thick with emotion. However hard she tried not to ask it, she just had to. Eventually, she managed to choke out quietly, more of a whisper than anything else, ‘And what if I do want to be your friend?’

‘Then we’re already friends, aren’t we?’ He said, warmly. She looked at him, a little shocked. Trini couldn’t deny that she was a little tired of always being alone. She was alone at home and school and there was no one, in any of the past couple of places that she lived, that she was friends with. Yeah, she would either be dead or move away in a couple months but, if Zack and Trini were still friends when that happened, they could text or something, surely?

Wasn’t it worth taking a chance on? If the whole superhero thing was real, which she still wasn’t convinced of, then he had a point - they were better off being friends than just acquaintances. Perhaps that was even the key to them finally being able to morph. Zordon talked constantly of the close bond that he had shared with the other members of his own Ranger team, and that bond was something that the five of them seemed to lack, so perhaps that difference between the two teams was the thing holding them back from morphing.

She finally smiled - a small, slow smile that took a while to appear. ‘Yeah,’ Trini breathed. ‘I guess friends is better than teammates.’ 

Zack smiled softly at her and went back to eating the strange mush that was on his lunch tray. ‘Dude, how can you eat school food?’ She asked, disgusted. Zack laughed and launched into some massive story about how someone bet him at a party once that he, someone who brought in their own lunch every day, wouldn’t be able to eat only school lunch for a whole year. 

‘I never back down from a dare or a bet,’ he declared proudly, his eyes glinting dangerously in the harsh fluorescent lighting of the cafeteria. Trini laughed, called him an idiot and went back to her apple. 

**3 Days Before Rita:**

The bonfire had been illuminating in more than one way for the Rangers. 

Firstly, it was a fire. So, the light, literally, illuminated the shadowy night, the soft orange light flickering gently across the faces of the gathered teenagers.

Secondly, they all realised that they needed to be a lot closer to each other if they wanted to have any hope of defeating Rita - they had to be a proper team, of friends, if they wanted to survive and have the rest of the town make it out too. 

Thirdly, they revealed stuff to each other that they either rarely talked about or had never shared with anyone before, with the exception of Kim. Jason wryly remarked, as he rubbed his knee absentmindedly, that they all knew his story, and it was true. Gossip spread quickly in a small town, Kim and Jason could attest to that. So, what had happened to him was pretty much common knowledge. 

Looking at him now though, as a boy across the fire, her teammate and friend instead of some distant classmate that seemed more removed and far off from her than people normally were, she was literally seeing him in a new light, and she had to consider that when she thought about the gossip that had reached even her ears in the halls of Angel Grove High. 

She knew now what kind of person Jason was and could realise the betrayal that he had really suffered at the hands of his fellow students, and the rest of the town for that matter. Previously the most popular guy around, he was now considered the worst of the worst, for ‘letting the football team down’, a guy now viewed only as a burnout, a waste of space, and the disgrace of the town. All because of some stupid prank. 

Billy shared a lot too, an admission that seemed to pain him, the words bitter but also true, judging from the relief in his face once he said it. He truly was the sweetest boy ever, Trini observed, smiling. He was lucky to have a good enough relationship with both of his parents that he missed his dad as much as he did, but Trini was also glad that they were doing something to help him get over the loss of his father. 

Yeah, she had no idea what he had been through, becuase she had been lucky enough to not experience that, but she did know that it must hurt to feel like he was replacing his father, the previously most important figure in his life, but judging from the description of him that Billy had given and the type of person that his son was, Trini was willing to bet that this is what Billy’s father would have wanted - him to move on and find other people to help support and love him. After all, in this town, they were wrongly labelled all outsiders and weirdos, not just Billy.

Trini’s own confession shook her to her core. She didn’t think that she could have done it had it not been for Zack’s prompting and encouraging. No, she didn’t think - she knew. There was no possible way that she could have had the courage to do what she did without him. So, she probably had him to thank for the fact that she was still sitting around a fire with her friends but now, there was a weight off her shoulders that had been sitting there for a very long time. 

Coming out was something that Trini had never thought that she would be able to do. The risk of losing people that she had just gained, of being alone when she had just discovered friends, of going back to being stony-faced and silent, was too horrible to bear. The words were heavy when they left her lips and they had taken a lot of effort to force out, but she managed it and she felt a thousand times lighter for it. 

The fear of rejection took place, but there was also a certain rush of adrenaline and euphoria that had surged through her. She had searched her friends’ face for any sign of the disgust that she feared but she only saw compassion, acceptance and understanding. 

Trini felt her heart soar at the reaction she received and that was when she realised it - these people had become far more important to her than she had ever expected. This could be hard to handle, but she guessed that now that they were fucking superheroes, dealing with the fact that she had friends now was the least of her worries. 

In fact, top of her list of worries wasn’t Rita for once. It was Zack.

Zack’s little speech was probably the most heartbreaking of them all. He had seemed so small, sitting on his log, staring at the fire in favour of the faces of his friends. She realised now that he was someone who, despite his cheerful exterior, was actually full of a certain type of bitterness and resentment that made her want to wrap him in a hug and make sure that he was never hurt by this stupid fucking town again. The place had high levels of radiation - something to do with the type of rock that the quarry that he lived by was made out of, and as a result, his mom was debilitated by cancer. 

Of course, no one could say for sure that was the reason that she got ill, but Zack was faced with losing his only remaining family member, having to pay rent, deal with school, and see his mom get sicker every day. He couldn't be faulted for needing something to blame. Something that was likely responsible despite whatever bullshit the politicians and governors and officials spouted.

So, he retreated within himself, barely attended school, and was fated to live in the trailer parks of Angel Grove forever: not rich enough for college fees, not eligible for any sort of scholarship. Perhaps financial aid, but that didn’t cover all of what he would have to pay. He had nowhere to go and he knew it and Trini’s heart broke for him. True, now he had the Rangers, but Trini doubted that they could replace a family, the family that her best friend deserved. And it hurt her to see the way that his face was clouded with preemptive grief some days, like his mom was already halfway to the grave. 

Over the time that she had known him, Zack had shown that he was far cleverer and capable than anyone gave him credit for. People labelled him as some sort of class clown, but he was so much more than that. He would never be able to live up to his potential because of circumstance, but even if it wasn’t for that, none of them could go to college anyway - the Zeo Crystal was here and they needed to be here to protect it. But none of that even mattered to Zack, because nothing did unless he had his mom.

He was a literal superhero, tasked with saving the world whenever it needed him, but he couldn’t save the one person that meant the most to him.

**\--**

**7 Days Before Rita:**

Trini didn’t really understand how the fuck the whole school was still hung up on whatever Kim did. The gossip had already been around for a couple of days - the consequences of a small town - but normally people move on to some new scandal relatively quickly. 

Trini wasn’t going to pretend that she was friends with Kim, but the two of them had biology together and it was kinda hard not to notice the girl’s new status as a social pariah. They were supposed to be teammates, they spent their time afterschool sparring with each other and fucking holograms, so all of that combined meant that she should at least look out for the other girl. 

If only for the sake of making sure that she would still be alright for training. 

Kim’s shoulders had been tense and bunched around her ears all class and she had sat alone for the whole class - which was simply unprecedented. She was always surrounded by at least three people from her popular posse.

But Trini was determined to change that today. There was something about the way that Kim looked now, never looking anyone in the eyes, always nervous, that made Trini want to do something to change that. She didn’t think that she could take another class unable to look away from the hunched form of Kimberly Hart. 

So, seconds before the bell rung, Trini slid into the unoccupied seat next to Kim. The taller girl looked at her in shock, having never seen the girl sit anywhere but at the back of the class and never having talked to her. It was a big change considering that Kim sat in the second row. 

‘What the fuck?’ Kim asked softly, but Trini just turned to look at her deadpan. 

‘Look, dude. Don’t make it weird. I’m sitting here so no one bothers you.’ Trini muttered as the bell rung, shrill and loud. No going back now. Kim still looked shocked. ‘Yeah, I noticed the way that people have been treating you. I don’t know exactly why or what you did, but I honestly don’t care. People will move on soon enough. Till then, I’m sitting here.’

The teacher walked into the room and the class started and Trini turned to the front. She could still feel Kim’s eyes on her, probably wondering why she was doing what she was doing. Trini was acutely aware of both Kim’s presence next to her, what with the warmth coming from her, and the attention she was garnering, what with the staring she could feel hot on her neck. 

‘You don’t have to do this.’ Kim’s voice was low, but there was a certain tone of gratitude in there that made her heart swell for some reason. She flushed slightly before replying to her.

‘We’re teammates.’ Trini’s voice could hardly be heard over the squeaking of the pen against the whiteboard and the whining of the teacher’s voice. ‘That means I gotta look out for you at least a little. Besides, if we don’t survive Rita, spending your last days as some sort of social pariah would kinda suck.’

The wry smile on her lips was reflected onto Kim herself and Trini felt something between the two of them change. She was just happy that Kim didn’t have that kicked puppy look on her face anymore. 

Trini didn’t know everything about why she was now such an outcast, but she did know that Kim used to be the head cheerleader, the undisputed queen of Angel Grove High, atop a throne of untold power. No one could say that she didn’t rule with an iron grip - she was ruthless. The town had made her so that she was built with that grittiness and toughness that made her hard to deal with. Kimberly held everyone at arm's length, surrounded by walls that she had been forced to build because of social pressures and expectations. 

Perhaps she snapped, perhaps something happened. Either way, Kim was someone else now. She wasn’t that popular kid who ruled through a mixture of adoration and fear. She was a Ranger now and that meant something. If she was deserving of a mantle of a superhero, then Kim was deserving of some common fucking decency as far as Trini was concerned.

**\--**

**6 Days Before Rita:**

Everyone had known who Jason Scott was - in fact, he got even more attention now that he had been kicked to the bottom of the social ladder. His infamy worked better at getting his name out there than his popularity ever had.

But Trini wasn’t entirely sure that everyone knew who Jason was. The actual person that he was. She didn’t think that people knew the kindness in him, the earnest need to make others happy, the firm belief he had in always doing the right thing, even if he made a few mistakes along the way. 

To be fair, before all of this, Trini had just assumed that Jason Scott was another white boy, a jock obsessed with himself and whatever girl was hanging off of his arm. To her, he had just been one more popular kid. To him, she had just been a random face in the crowd. 

But now, in this strange situation that the five of them had found themselves in, theirs was a completely different relationship. In the short time that they had all been training as Rangers, Trini had seen Jason for the person that he actually was, instead of the person that his father, his friends and the rest of the town expected him to be. 

To most people, his life was ruined - Jason Scott, looked at as the only one with much of a chance of going anywhere, was left barely able to run thanks to his busted knee, and something dark and broken in him thanks to the town ending up ridiculing him, a vindictive happiness coming out seeing someone thought of superior becoming the lowest of the low in a town that valued hierarchy more than anything.

So, more than anything, Trini was surprised that he managed to lead the Ranger team with the goal of saving a town that hates him or at least seemed to hate him most days. Sure, he now had the Ranger team instead of those waste of spaces that he used to call friends, but that just made Trini feel worse, because there was no way that a thrown together, a ragtag group of ‘superheroes’ could replace being the golden boy of the entire town.

But Jason had never seemed happier. Kim remarked to her, in the quiet moments between training exercises, that she had never seen the light and happiness reach his eyes when he smiled before all this. So, Trini had to assume that at least something was working for him.

**\--**

**2 Days Before Rita:**

Trini’s heart truly broke for Billy sometimes. He had been treated badly by his peers just because he was different, his father had died and now he had to deal with being a superhero and all that pressure and expectation. 

Although, to be fair, he seemed to be the most excited about their powers out of all of them. There was this certain unabashed glee that he approached everything with during training and conversations about Ranger business that made Trini smile. He just seemed so happy to be there and experiencing it all, when all she could do was focus on their impending doom. 

Truth be told, she didn’t and couldn’t understand how he could be so cheerful about it all. Perhaps he hadn’t realised fully what being a Ranger meant, but Billy was the most intelligent person that she had ever met so she doubted that was the case. That left only that he was willing to focus on the good parts of being a Ranger and she found that hard to swallow when it all had been so bittersweet for her.

Billy seemed to have lost the most by becoming a superhero, and though he seemed the most excited by it, Trini could sometimes tell that this wasn’t how he wanted his life to go by the way his eyes sometimes lost their shine when they talked about the future. Always hailed by adults as a sweet boy, and the smartest guy that the town had ever seen, he was always going to go places and he wasn’t going to let the bullying of stupid kids bring him down

But the most prominent trait in Billy wasn’t his kindness or his intelligence - it was his unwavering loyalty. The town of Angel Grove needed him, and he was going to stay and miss his chance to get a scholarship out of town. But that didn’t mean that the dreams of what might have been didn’t leave his head, didn’t replay around and around in his mind at night, didn’t turn bitter in their unreachability.

Trini hadn’t known him for long, but it was obvious that he was meant for things, bigger things than sticking around Angel Grove. Also, he had dreams, of getting out, of going to MIT or CalTech or somewhere equally impressive and highly regarded. 

Now, he was going to be stuck as the kid who never went anywhere, all because he found a Power Coin in the mines. That wasn't fair, to him or to any of them. They all had dreams, aspirations, places they wanted to go that wasn’t Angel Grove. But they were condemned, doomed, fated to spend the rest of their lives in this town, with people who hated them, and would never realise the amount that the five of them had sacrificed for them.

**\--**

Truth be told, it infuriated her. The way that her friends, the best people that she had ever known, were treated just because of some mistakes that they had made or situations that they were in. People were shitty to them all just because of who they were, and yet, the five of them still saved all of their asses.

**\--**

Trini’s alarmed blared, loud and harsh in her ears, and she groaned. Sleep crusted her eyes shut and a certain weariness and heaviness filled her lethargic limbs. Reluctant to get up, Trini tried to roll over - the operative word being tried. A certain warm weight prevented her from doing so. She cracked her eyes open in curiosity and proceeded to jump away like she had been electrocuted.

Kimberly Hart was lying in her bed, her hair mussed and tousled through sleep, her eyes closed and her expression peaceful. Trini looked at her in shock before remembering that the other girl had crept through her window the previous night and that’s why her alarm was set so early and so loud - they had to get up and sneak Kim out before her mom came into her room. 

Gingerly, Trini reached out a hand and tried to shake Kim awake. The other girl groaned in her sleep but barely stirred, whilst Trini pulled her hand back quick as lightning the second the other girl reacted to her touch. 

She sighed and tried again, shaking Kim more this time. Eventually, the other girl managed to groan out a mumbled ‘What?’ the sound muffled by her pillow and hair. But Trini could still hear the hoarse, raspy tone of the other girl’s voice and a shiver ran down her spine, unbidden.

Choosing to ignore whatever the fuck that was, Trini hissed urgently, ‘Dude, you gotta get up! Kim turned and looked at her, squinting and confused. ‘My mom will be here soon and you gotta be gone.’

Kim’s eyes went comically wide at that, and leapt out bed like the mattress was on fire. She grabbed her shoes and hoodie from the night before as well as her phone that she had set on the side. 

‘I’ll see you later, Trini,’ She whispered a quick goodbye before beginning to creep toward the window, carefully not to step on any of the creaky patches of Trini’s floor. Meanwhile, Trini was reeling from the fact that, apparently, Kim had been over in secret enough to know how to navigate her floor silently. 

Suddenly, the sound of the floorboards outside Trini’s bedroom door creaked in protest of the weight on them, a weight that could only belong to one person. Trini gestured desperately to Kim, before whispering urgently, ‘She’s here!’ She pulled the taller girl away from the window, knowing that there was not enough time for Kim to escape through the window and climb down the side of the house and get away, all without being seen by either Trini’s family or a neighbour. 

Instead, Trini shoved her under the bed, despite the quiet squawk of protest from Kim. Just as the taller girl was hidden away, Trini’s mom entered the room, looking at her curiously. 

‘Did I hear someone else in here? Also, you're up weirdly early.’ She looked at her daughter suspiciously. Trini felt slightly insulted, despite the fact that all the accusations were true. 

‘No, must be hearing the tv from downstairs or the twins or something.’ She replied in a practised, bored voice. 

Trini’s mum nodded slowly before saying, ‘You need to be ready for school soon. You can’t be late. I’m making breakfast and I expect you downstairs in five minutes.’

With that, the woman whirled out of the room, the door slamming behind her, leaving Trini standing alone in the middle of her bedroom floors as the sound of the door closing reverberated around her. 

Kim sneaked out from under the bed, mumbling something about how she was too tall to hide under the bed and her spine would never be the same. Before she could leave though, Trini said, ‘Actually, fuck this. Let’s go.

‘You heard her - you gotta be here.’

‘I don’t care anymore,’ she sighed deeply and thought about for one more second before making up her mind. ‘Did you drive here last night?’

‘No, I ran…’ Kim trailed off looking slightly abashed. Trini rolled her eyes. 

‘Whatever, we’ll just run to school or something.’ Kim brightened at that and she nodded. Trini grabbed her backpack off of the floor by her desk, shoved a couple of books in it as well as a sweater in case her t-shirt got sweaty after running to school. 

She zipped it up and slung it over her shoulder before turning to Kim and sending her a smirk. The two of them proceeded to sneak silently out of the window and down the side of the house, using several protruding bricks and a fair bit of Ranger strength and balance to keep them steady. 

Eventually, they landed on the soft grass, the green blades still wet from the morning dew, and continued on down the road onto school, Trini’s backpack slung over her shoulder, Kim with her shoes in hand.

**\--**

‘No offence Zack, but your music taste sucks ass,’ Kim drawled, a mischievous glint in her eyes, leaning forward toward Zack. Truthfully, the music blaring from the beaten up black speaker, perched precariously on one of the larger rocks, wasn’t that bad. But Trini would never admit that to Zack.

Laughter echoed as the assembled friends made fun of Zack’s pout and affronted look, Trini high-fiving the girl leaning on her shoulder.

‘Sick burn, Kim,’ She mumbled, tightening the blanket that they were sharing around their shoulders as the wind blew a chill into her bones. They may have been in California, but there was still a bitter cold up in the mines. 

‘Shut up, Trini. Stop taking Kim’s side on everything.’ Zack rolled his eyes exaggeratedly at her but responded with an insulted expression when Trini flipped him a middle finger in reply. 

They were all crowded around the bonfire, the flickering flames heating their faces. The winter chill, the bite of the frosty air, could do nothing against the warmth that Trini felt rising and making its way up in her chest as she looked at the assembled group of people with so much love and affection in her heart that she thought it might burst.

It was pretty hard to believe that they had actually made it - that they had defeated Rita and here they all were, sitting huddled in blankets and sweaters, clutching beers and phones and laughing into the night like they were just normal teenagers. Anyone would have thought that they were just a couple of kids camping and hanging out, like the fate of the world didn’t hang on their shoulders, like it hadn’t only been a couple of days since Rita descended on the town with evil in her heart.

There was a sudden weight to the air, or maybe it was an absence of weight, a lightness. Either way, it was that eternal feeling that one sometimes felt in the moments that mean the most, the memories that you want to keep forever, when nothing feels entirely real and your heart's too big for your chest, but you wouldn’t change a single thing. Trini felt that feeling in her chest, the kind that let her know that these were the memories she would look back and smile upon when everything else in her memories turned foggy and blurry.

It was like nothing could hurt her, not the frosty bite to the chilly winter air, nor the fact that she couldn’t even get a pleasant buzz off of the alcohol in her hand due to being a Ranger, or even the fact that Jason and Zack were singing along to some trashy pop song blaring out of Jason’s beat up speakers. Their voices were horrifically out of key and out of tune, and Trini didn’t think that any sound could hurt that much whilst still being so good. 

No, she thought as she looked around at her goofball friends, pulling the old scratchy blanket draped around her and Kim’s shoulders tighter around them, there was nothing that she would want to change if she had the chance to, not about this group of people.

‘Hey!’ Billy suddenly brightened up, shooting up from his slumped position on the log next to Jason’s chair. Everyone turned to look at him, slightly startled. ‘Who wants some hot chocolate?!’

The others looked at him quizzically, and Trini said, ‘Uh, I don’t know where you’re gonna get it but sure?’

Billy just smiled conspiratorially as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a two big metal thermos of hot chocolate. Zack cheered wildly, throwing his hands up in the air and accidentally hitting Jason in the nose, their ‘fearless leader’ crying out in pain.

From beside Trini, Kim burst out laughing at the sight of Jason crouching on the floor clutching his nose, whilst a poor, distressed Zack flapped about above him.

Once they had sorted out Jason’s nose, which wasn’t even badly hurt, the drama queen, Billy started dishing out the hot chocolate in mugs that he had the foresight to bring, both bringing the drink and the mugs something that no one else in the group had thought of.

Trini sighed happily as she wrapped her hands around her respective mug, the sweet smell of the creamy hot chocolate filling her nose, and not only the warmth of the mug warming her, but also the presence of Kim beside her, huddled together under a soft blanket.

‘Honestly Bill, you’re the best,’ Kim praised, her cheeks flushed from the November cold and her nose tinted red from the chill not just the light of the fire, but there was only happiness glittering in her eyes. Billy blushed, but the other Rangers echoed Kim’s sentiments up until Zack smirked and pulled everything you would need to make smores out of his own backpack.

It was Trini’s turn to cheer this time, and she managed to spill hot chocolate on her foot, but she barely flinched, which caused Jason and Zack and Kim to go wild, yelling about how she couldn’t be human if she didn’t find that at least a little painful.

She could only fix them with a blank expression as she deadpanned, ‘I feel like you often forget that we are superheroes,’ Billy hid his snigger behind a hand and looked at Jason with an apologetic expression.

The realisation dawned on them slowly and they retook their seats, faces flushed with embarrassment, and Zack glared playfully at her for her remark, before asking Billy to pass him more hot chocolate. Trini softened and smiled at the adorable blush colouring Kim’s cheeks after Trini’s deadpan burn. The other girl was leaning on her shoulder and her breath was warm against the skin of her ear and neck. Trini could feel the ends of her soft hair dangle and brush her shoulder and it sent shivers down her spine despite the warmth in her skin. She nodded and laughed along with the others, but she truthfully wasn’t really focused on what was happening. 

After a while, Billy revealed that he hadn’t just brought hot chocolate. Out of the depths of his bag, he pulled out the materials necessary for smores. Zack leapt up and hit Jason in the face again in his exuberance. 

‘Jesus Christ, man.’ Jason grumbled, rubbing his cheek gingerly. ‘Stop doing that.’ 

Zack just laughed at his grumpy expression, though he apologised after a while.

The smell of toasting marshmallows filled the air as they chatted and laughed, all whilst holding their sticks in the flames. Well, Jason held his in the flames while everyone else held them just above the fire, like most people did. 

He learnt his lesson when it caught aflame and he chucked the whole thing, marshmallow, stick and all, off the side of the cliff and onto the rocks below, as the others howled with laughter. His face burned as bright as the flames on his poor marshmallow. ‘You know guys, you are all being real dicks to me tonight.’

Zack crowed with laughter and gave him a shit-eating grin. ‘You should have toasted it properly then, Jason. I mean, honestly, you’re supposed to be the mom friend,’ With a faux moody look on his face and a playful glare in Zack’s direction, Jason impaled another marshmallow on a stick and thrust it into the fire.

‘No, no, no, no,’ said Billy, tutting quietly under his breath before moving so that he was closer to him and tried to help. ‘You gotta hold it further up so it isn’t directly in the flame,’

But Jason wasn’t listening - his face was flushed and his hands were shaking all of a sudden, like he had suddenly forgotten how to function like a basic human. Kim, Zack and Trini tried to hold in their laughter but the sight of the Red Ranger, leader of the defence against the alien attack, basically stop working because of Billy, was far too funny.

Trini didn’t miss Zack’s expression though. She caught the way that his smile faltered slightly and his eyes widened a little. He looked sadder than she had seen him be in a while, so she was quick to throw him a warm smile. He plastered a smirk on his face as soon as he saw that Trini was looking at him, and nodded his head at her. 

It was obviously fake, but Trini knew that this wasn’t the right time to push this, and she was alright to leave the inevitable conversation for a while. 

They were all having a good time making fun of Jason up until Zack pointed out, with a deceivingly innocent smile on his face, ‘But Trin, this is exactly what you do every time that Kim flirts with you,’ His smile turned into a mischievous smirk that almost split his face in half, and even a death glare from Trini didn’t make it disappear.

She flushed wildly and muttered something whilst the other two burst into laughter anew at her blushing cheeks. Trini huffed and crossed her arms at that, which made Kim look at her with mock sympathy and lean into her shoulder

Billy eventually sighed and just guided Jason’s arm to the correct position above the fire himself, and Jason might as well have been wearing his armour for how red he looked.

Finally happy with the position of Jason’s marshmallow above the licking flames, Billy gave a satisfied sigh and moved away, but the other boy didn’t move a muscle - didn’t even twitch. It was like Jason was stuck, staring ahead with a blush colouring his cheeks that only the flames disguised.

His marshmallow caught fire again, much to the joy of Zack.

**\--**

After a while of hanging out like this, they realised how late it was getting, and with reluctance, began packing up their stuff. Trini wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to go home, knowing that she was going to get interrogated about her friends and what she had been up to the second that she stepped inside the house.

That wasn’t really something to look forward to.

And, lately, her mother had been even more controlling than normal, saying that she worried that Trini was beginning to drift down the wrong road, and that she was doing her a favour in the end. Her mother sited things like spending too much time with her ‘criminal’ friends, and not going to church enough. 

When her mom had first seen the scars on her neck from Rita, she freaked out, accused Trini of getting mixed up in a mob or gang or similarly dodgy group. Trini had only managed to get her to calm down by lying and saying that they were from Rita’s attack on Angel Grove, and she must have been scratched during the chaos. 

So, Trini didn’t think that she was really to blame for moving a little slower and wanting to savour this moment before going back home. 

Kim looked over at her, catching her eye and sending her a smile, one that felt secret although the others were right there. Trini blushed, thankful that it was dark so the redness of her cheeks would probably be hidden unlike in the light of day, and cursing the fact that she flushed so easily and obviously.

They all continued chattering and laughing as they walked out of the mine. Once they reached the gate, they split up, with Jason heading in one direction to his house, Kim and Zack in the same direction to theirs, and Billy and Trini off together to their own families.

‘So, Trini,’ Billy began conversationally, ‘What did you think of the hot chocolate?’

‘I think that it was a brilliant idea, Bill. Although, next time, maybe we should all bring little camping mugs and we can make the hot chocolate on the fire. Didn’t you say that you used to go camping with your dad sometimes? Doing something like that would be pretty cool, don’t you think?’

Trini smiled at the way that Billy’s face brightened with joy. She knew that he missed his dad, and that he wanted to preserve all the memories that he had with him. But as he had said at the first bonfire night they had, doing the same stuff that he used to do with his father but with the Rangers made part of that pain, the ache of missing him, ease slightly. Trini was willing to do whatever she was able to do in order to ease someone of something like that.

‘That’s a great idea, Trini!’ He cheered, clapping his hands rapidly with excitement. ‘I will ask the others if they all have camping cups and if not, maybe I have spares?’ Billy started counting on his hands, trying to remember if he had any more camping mugs than the two that he and his father had owned.

‘My whole family has one each. I can bring all five,’ Trini reassured him. ‘The others don’t have to bring any. It’s easier for me to just bring all five. Instead, how about you bring the camping saucepan so we can heat it up, because you’re the most likely to have that? I can ask Kim to bring the stuff for actually making the hot chocolate. And, I will ask Zack to see if he can bring smores.

‘Good idea! But I only have one saucepan fit for putting over a fire. Maybe Jason will have another one, and then it will be more efficient.’

‘Ok, Billy.’ She nodded, pulling her jacket tighter around her to protect herself from the chilly wind. Trini shoved her hands deeper into her pocket. ‘That sounds great. As soon as we know when the next campfire will be, we can ask everyone to bring their respective things.’

The two of them walked in silence for a while, just taking in the night and the comforting presence of each other. Eventually, Billy broke the silence. ‘Did you know, I love space?’ He said, looking up at the night sky as he did so, a smile on his face as wide as any other.

‘No, I didn’t know that.’ She grinned at him and waited for him to continue. He did so, the light of the stars in the sky gleaming in his eyes just as brightly.

‘When I was a kid, my dad used to take me to the mine, as you already know. But we also went camping out on the cliffs, and he would always show me the constellations. He loved the stories behind them and the way that people thousands of years ago looked up at the same stars that we do. I remember every story he told me, all of the myths and legends and heroes that are immortalised in the night sky forever.’ Billy tailed off, a wistful expression on his face.

‘You should tell us them some time, if you want to.’ Trini replied.

‘Are you sure? I doubt the others will be interested.’ Billy looked unsure, but Trini was quick to respond.

‘We are your friends, Billy. If something interests you, then we want to hear about it.’ She said simply.

Billy smiled, looking grateful but unable to meet Trini’s eyes, instead looking down at his shoes.

‘Thanks,’ He said. ‘Maybe I will some time.’ A comfortable silence once again settled over them, which continued until the two of them reached Trini’s house, hers being the first of the two house on the way home from the mine.

Billy walked her up the steps to the house and paused outside the front door. He looked hesitant and unsure, his face illuminated by the soft orange glow of a streetlight beside Trini’s house.

‘You alright, Billy?’ She asked, her hand on the doorknob, but unwilling to go inside when she looked like this.

‘I just... can you come over to my house after school tomorrow?’

‘Sure,’ She readily agreed, making Billy visibly relax, his shoulders losing tension and his fists unclenching. A smile appeared on his face, brightening it instantly, his eyes shining.

‘Ok! See you tomorrow, Trini!’

‘Bye, Billy!’ She chuckled as she let herself into the house, the hallway was dark meaning that the rest of the family was asleep. Quietly, Trini crept to the kitchen, opening the door carefully, and rummaging around in one of the cupboards to find something to eat. Eventually, she pulled out a pack of cookies. 

Before she walked back out of the kitchen, she grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the table. She padded back through the darkened house, making her way to the staircase. As she walked up the stairs, they creaked softly beneath her weight. Trini winced, but continued to climb up towards her room, towards safety, her bounty of food clutched in her hands.

She breathed a sigh of relief as her bedroom door clicked closed. She shed her shoes, leaving them discarded by the wall, and padded over in her sock-clad feet to fling herself onto her bed. 

Trini enveloped herself in her duvet covers, snuggling deep into the warmth that it lent her, though she was still wearing her clothes from the day, she couldn’t really bring herself to care. The weariness that she felt seemed to reach her bones and made her unable to move a single muscle to change into her pyjamas.

Suddenly, light flooded the room, the soft glow of the hallway lights pooling into the room. Trini tried not to stiffen in alarm, making sure that she looked relaxed enough to convincingly be asleep. She could hear the breathing of whoever was standing in the doorway to her room. After a while, they left, and Trini let out a breath in relief. 

She turned over in her bed, and with the soft glow of the streetlights from outside her window, she slipped off to sleep relatively easily, still on the high that came with being with the rest of the Rangers.

**\--**

However, it seemed that the peace of an easy sleep was still too much to hope for. The moon was high in the sky, in actuality, beginning it’s descent back below the horizon when Trini jolted awake, covered in a sheen of sweat, her heart beating rapidly. Breathing erratic, she clenched her fists as she sat in bed, trying to catch her breath. Fragments of the nightmare that she just had flashed through her mind, not making the calming down process any easier. Panicked, she glanced around the room, looking for the person that she was sure had to be hiding in the shadows.

But Rita was nowhere to be seen, of course. Logically, Trini knew that Rita was floating in space somewhere, and that she probably had no way to return. But knowing all of that didn’t do anything to stop the nightmares where Rita hadn’t left that night, scenarios where she stayed and kept squeezing Trini’s throat till she couldn’t breathe, till she passed out, before moving on to the rest of her family, with Trini unable to do anything to save her parents and her little brothers, let alone the rest of the town/the world that she was supposed to be guarding.

But none of that happened. Trini was lying safe in her room, her family sleeping just rooms away from her. Except nothing about the supposed safe haven that was her bedroom convinced Trini that she was actually safe there.

The recently plastered walls reminded her of the fact that just because she was a Power Ranger, didn’t mean that she couldn’t be hurt. The smashed mirror brought back memories of the fact that Rita had almost killed her and she had the scars to prove it. The damaged ceiling above her bed was proof that this safe haven could be compromised, that boundaries such as this could be crossed.

Gradually, Trini eased the grip that she had on the edges of her bed, her fingers having left dents in the plastic-wooden frame of her bed. She sighed as she reached over and leant so that her arm could reach underneath the bed. Trini pulled out the cookies and shoved one in her mouth, trying to keep the crinkling of the wrappers to a minimum. She wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep, so there wasn’t any point in avoiding a late night snack.

Trini pulled herself out of bed, groaning slightly as she stretched her limbs. She padded softly over to the wardrobe and pulled out a warm black hoodie. She quickly changed from her stale clothes that she had been wearing the day before into the clean, soft hoodie and into a pair of loose running shorts, grabbing her phone and earphones from the bedside table. 

She surreptitiously snuck out of the window, but instead of jumping down from the ledge onto the grass that was below, Trini used all of her upper body strength to pull herself up and over so that she was sitting on the little part of the roof that was above her window. From there, it was a simple jump to be standing on top of the roof of her house.

That was where she stayed, munching on her cookies as the sun began to rise, painting her and the world around her in pale pink and orange hues. Her music blasted through her ears as she bathed in the glow that was turning everything golden in the way that only the undisturbed morning light can. The sounds of Angel Grove waking up began to rise around her, the song of the morning birds chirping floating through the air.

After a while, she pulled out the apple that she had grabbed the night before, having put it into her hoodie pocket before escaping to the roof. She took a crunchy bite of the red apple, her phone lighting up as she did so - the buzzing soft against her leg through the fabric of her shorts’ pocket.

Trini pulled it out as she ate to see a couple of messages from the group chat. She smiled subconsciously as she unlocked her phone, typing in her passcode quickly.

**_‘billy cranston defense squad’ group chat:_ **

**_Friday, 7:06 pm._ **

**_red robin:_ ** _just to let you all know, we have training today after school for a couple of hours_

**_yaboizack:_ ** _jason, nooooooo_

**_pink ptero:_ ** _shut up zack, it’s not that big of a deal_

**_yaboizack:_ ** _fuck you kim_

**_pink ptero:_ ** _no i would really rather you didn't_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _and can we keep the fucking to a minimum. we have innocent eyes in this chat_

**_pink ptero:_ ** _who?_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _billy you fucking dumbass_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _uhh me and bill might be a bit late - we need to do something after school but we will be there as soon as we can_

**_red robin:_ ** _what it is that youre doing with billy?_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _dude i have no idea. billy asked me to come over so i said i would_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _because it's billy and i would kill a man if he told me too_

**_red robin:_ ** _uhh ok i will ask bill later._

**_red robin:_ ** _and please, for the love of god, don't kill anyone._

**_yaboizack:_ ** _oh!! btw guys, i had an idea._

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _quick tell us before it dies of loneliness_

**_pink ptero:_ ** _ayyy nice one, t_

**_yaboizack:_ ** _ok wow ur both assholes_

**_yaboizack:_ ** _also apparently t is like two years old now_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _just tell us your damn idea_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _and i was always two years old_

**_yaboizack:_ ** _ok so basically: we saved the whole town but like, they don’t really know that we didn’t mean to ruin the town, and it would kind of help us if like, people know to trust us if another attack ever happened. So, in order to gain the public's trust, i say we start a twitter account_

**_red robin:_ ** _wall dad will kill us_

**_pink ptero:_ ** _yeah but its a good idea to be fair. even if it was zack who thought of it_

**_yaboizack:_ ** _low blow kim_

**_red robin:_ ** _as long as we are careful not to reveal anything about our identities i dont see any harm in it._

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _it could help with our reputation._

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _plus, it could be funny_

**_red robin:_ ** _ok so everyone is in favour. we’ll ask billy later and then, if he agrees, we will set it up_

**_yaboizack:_ ** _YEAHHH BOIIIIIIII_

**_pink ptero:_ ** _oh my god shut up you fucking loser_

Trini laughed as she shoved her phone into her pocket. She finished off her apple in a few quick bites before slipping back into her room before her parents discovered her absence from her room.

**\--**

The school bell rang, a shrill sound that echoes throughout the busy school hallway, at the same time that Trini slammed her locker door closed, the metal clanging sound reverberating. She shouldered her bag with a sigh and began to push her way through the hall to get to the doors of the school, with assholes yelling jeering remarks at her about every step of the way.

Trini rolled her eyes, letting their words roll off her back, unaffected by it all. It was safe to say that she missed the relative safety that had come with being invisible back before this whole superhero thing. She walked over to where Billy was waiting, sending him a smile and leading the two of them out of the school doors.

‘So, Bill,’ she began as they walked down the stairs and past the parked cars, full of parents waiting for their kids or other teenagers riding in their friend’s car. ‘What’s this about? Will we still be going to training later?’

‘We should be. It’s important to be prepared for another attack,’

Trini made a face, screwing up her nose with distaste. ‘Yeah, but, ew, training.’

Billy laughed, a little awkwardly, but Trini let it go rather than embarrass him by trying to retract her joke.

‘I just need to talk to you, that’s all. It could be any time, but I wanted to do it sooner rather than later.’

‘Ok,’ She said simply, and the two of them walked on, talking about their days and how Mr Callaghan from the Physics department had no idea what he was talking about

‘I can’t actually believe that they let him teach Physics. He’s a Chemistry teacher, not a Physics teacher!’ Trini laughed, Billy as well.

‘I know, and I haven’t learnt from him at all, but Ms Oake is always willing to answer my questions, so that’s good,’

‘Ah, yeah,’ Trini nodded as they arrived at Billy’s front door, the boy unlocking the front door with a practised ease and pushing it open so the two of them could walk into the cool and bright entrance way

‘Hey, Mom! Trini’s here for a while! Can we take some snacks?’ He yelled, with a swift reply coming from his mom

‘Yeah, sure! Wait, I’m coming!’

Sure enough, the two of them heard her padding footsteps coming from the stairwell, and she emerged, looking bright and happy to see one her son’s friends again.

‘Hi, Trini, how are you doing?’

‘Uh, alright, I guess. Thanks, Mrs Cranston.’ Trini replied a little awkwardly. She was never sure about how she should interact with adults, but the answering smile that she received seem friendly and satisfied enough, so she left it there.

‘We’re gonna go down to the basement now, Mom,’ Billy said, already halfway to the door and beckoning Trini to follow. ‘See you later, Mrs Cranston,’ She waved stiffly before disappearing down the stairs after Billy with a hot, ‘Wait up, dude!’ that made his mom laugh, the sound following them into the basement.

Billy huffed out a sigh as he sat down in his desk chair, one of the ones that spin and wheels. Trini took a seat on an old beat up couch that was tucked against the wall, the surface of which was covered in scraps of metal, inventions, and crumbs that probably came from Zack and past hangouts in Billy’s basement.

‘So, hit me with what you wanna talk about, man.’ Trini prompted, leaning forward

Billy visibly prepared himself, taking a deep breath and beginning to wring his hand. Trini kept her expression blank of any impatience and allowed him to take his time in gathering the words to start speaking.

‘I died.’ He finally got out, making Trini recoil involuntarily.

‘I know,’ she said, her voice hesitant, not knowing how to proceed. She honestly wasn’t expecting this. She didn’t really know why she of all people was the person that he would want to talk to about this - she wasn’t exactly the poster child for healthily dealing with emotional issues. 

‘I died, but I’m back. But nothing's the same,’ he said, his expression almost a little mournful. ‘You know, I’ve stopped sleeping? Every time that I close my eyes, all I see is her face and then I feel the water and the darkness and the suffocation and I can’t breathe. That’s when I always wake up and then I can’t go back to sleep.’ Billy looked like he was about to go on, rambling in his anxiety, but Trini saved him the trouble and cut him off softly.

‘It’s the same for me,’ Billy nodded, apparently expecting that and stayed silent for long enough that Trini could tell he wanted her to keep speaking. ‘All the shit in my room that she touched just reminds me of her, I mean, like, every time that I look at the ceiling, all I can think about is the panic that I felt when I saw her there.’

Billy’s smile was soft and sad but almost comforting in a bitter sort of way, and Trini hated herself for a second; she was complaining about her experiences with Rita when Billy had literally died because of her.

‘But, I guess you have a lot more trauma.’ Billy’s smile fell a little at her words, turning lacklustre and fake.

‘No. I don’t remember being dead. Just what it was like to be drowning.’ Silence fell for a bit, Trini’s heart aching all the while as she fiddled with her hands, unable to make the words of comfort that she wanted to offer leave her throat. Then, he continued. ‘I always thought I would see my dad when I died.’

Trini’s heart fell and she felt a sort of pain erupt in her chest that didn’t belong to her. It was dull and muted but she felt its ache all the same. ‘I’m sorry, Billy’

‘It’s ok. I can’t change what happens when we die. But, I guess it means I really never will see my dad again.’ Again, silence fell, a mournful one that had Billy looking down at the ground in a way that told Trini a million and one thoughts were running through his head. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything, to try and make him feel better the way that she wanted to, the way that she wished she could.

Billy looked up, a sort of cloud of tears over his eyes. ‘But instead of focusing on that, I have to spend all my time training or doing school work. And I will never get to leave this town, now I’m a Ranger. I mean, I love being a superhero, but now I will never get to achieve my dreams’

‘You need time and space to grieve, for both your dad and your dreams, Billy. And it’s ok to need that.’

Tears began to drip from his eyes, and Trini had to restrain herself from leaping at him and enveloping him in a hug, wiping away his tears and telling him everything would be ok. Because, it wasn’t all going to be ok. Truthfully, Trini had no idea what was coming, what would happen next, or whether or not any of them would be ok ever again.

‘How can I help, Billy?’

‘I- I- Can you hold my hand?’

‘Of course.’ She smiled sadly as she gently took his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers. She understood then, by the way that he clung to her like a drowning man would to a scrap of driftwood, Billy needed something to remind him that this was real, that he truly was back and alive. She was an anchor, something to cling to.

He cried silently, Trini noticed. He didn’t duck his head or anything, so it wasn’t out of shame. But more of acceptance - he just let it all out through crying and sat there, holding her hand carefully, as though if he squeezed it too hard, she would disappear

After a while, he sniffed, pulling away and wiping at his eyes. She watched him patiently, and eventually, he nodded and stood up.

‘Ok, I’m ok, I’m alright.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yeah.’ His voice wavered slightly, but the look on his face was so determined that Trini couldn’t tell him to stay.

‘Ok. You up for training?’

‘Yeah, ok.’

‘Let’s go, then.’ Trini got up, brushing her jeans free of any residual crumbs from the couch. Just as she began to step towards the stairs, Billy began to speak, making her stop and turn to him.

‘You know, the fact that Rita attacked you is the reason that I decided to speak to you, not Jason.’ She looked at him questioningly and let him elaborate. ‘The others get it, I mean, we all fought Rita, but you had a different experience. It’s like, you understand more.’

Trini nodded and smiled at him. ‘I’m always here for you, man. I’m glad you came to me because at least you're talking about it, y'know?’ Smirking, she held out her hand, forming a fist in order to give him the fist bump that she refused him the first campfire, that felt like years ago at this point. He smiled, a hollow one, but one that seemed genuine all the same.

Their fists collided and Trini felt a sense of comfort settle in her stomach. She sent him one last smile before saying, ‘Let’s go to the ship then, we’ve already missed a lot of today’s session.’

**\--**

The two of them entered the pit, talking and laughing, walking into the sounds of grunting and panting from the others as they trained. Kim’s head whipped up at the sound of their footsteps. Immediately her helmet melted away, Kim willing it to, and she shot the two of them a wide smile. Trini felt her heart rate double at the sight of it and clenched her hands into fists that were concealed in her jacket pockets.

She managed to send a weak smile back, just in time for Zack to take advantage of his sparring partner’s distraction and take Kim down with a swift and merciless strike to the legs. Kim hit the ground with a groan, her eyes closing as she lay there. Jason, also allowing his visor to fade away, laughed at her melodramatic tendencies and offered her a hand up - which she reluctantly took, shooting Zack glares and muttering about how he was a horrible friend; he just called out to her cheekily, ‘Man up, Kim! You gotta be tougher, that couldn’t have hurt at all!’

‘Uh, actually, that’s a sexist statement!’ Kim called back, half kidding. 

‘Fine then, instead of “man up” I’ll say fortify!’

‘Oh my god, please don’t,’ Trini groaned

Kim smiled evilly, ‘No, please do,’

Zack smirked before throwing his head back and yelling as loud as he could, ‘Fortify, Kimberly Hart!’ The two of them then dissolved into ridiculous cackles that only deepened at the exasperated look on Trini’s face. 

She turned to Jason, shaking her head. ‘I’ve been here for like two seconds and I’m already like 1000% done with them.’ 

Jason gave her a dead look, ‘Aren’t we all?’ She barely had to consider before humming in agreement, then proceeding to shed her jacket at the side of the room. 

‘Ok, let’s go, guys!’. Trini closed her eyes and drew a couple of deep breaths. Her frame lengthened and stiffened as she focused on morphing. Over the time since Rita’s attack, they had morphed for every training session to get used to fighting in armour and the extra strength and agility that their powers when morphed gave them. It had definitely gotten easier since the frustrating period when they first became Rangers when they couldn’t morph at all. But that wasn’t to say it was always easy. Sometimes it didn’t work, but they always made sure that they had enough bonding sessions to keep their connection working. 

Truthfully, Trini had gotten almost addicted to the rush of energy and adrenaline that morphing gave her, and the way that her senses heightened. But the changes were not just physical - it was also like she could sense the others with her mind, like she was mentally connected to them. They weren’t telepathic or anything, but it was like she could predict what each of them would do a split second before they did it. 

For example, when they were morphed, Trini could anticipate just when Jason would twirl his sword before he would strike at a projected Putty. And she would be able to see, just a split second before it happened, the doge that Kim would use in a spar, or the combination of attacks that Billy would utilise, or the Putty that Zack would charge at first. It was like they were all in sync, like their minds were on the same wavelength, were overlapping. 

So, when they morphed to start their training, the feeling of closeness with the others that appeared wasn’t new or unwelcome. She had begun to get used to it, along with the physical rush of endorphins that came with morphing. 

Once Billy and Trini were in their armour like the others, the metal glistening even in the low light of the pit, they teamed up and started to spar. First, Billy and Kim fought each other, whilst Trini, Jason and Zack all sparred together. After a while, Zack beat the two of them, and they looked over to see Billy looking pretty beat by Kim, who was smirking victoriously. 

‘Ok, let’s change things up!’ Jason announced and clapped his hands once and loudly, bringing everyone to attention. ‘Kim and Trini, I want you to fight Zack and Billy whilst Alpha and I watch for anywhere for people to improve. Then, Billy and myself will fight Trini and Kim whilst Zack and Alpha criticise, you get the point. We will continue till everyone has had a turn sitting out, then we will improve on areas we constantly get picked up on in. Get it?’

Once everyone had nodded to confirm, Jason moved off to the side, sitting on a rock next to Alpha-5. He let his visor melt away as he took a swig from his water bottle. Then, the two girls looked at each other, unspoken words being communicated in a simple glance. The two of them had always had a stronger connection that they had with the three boys, and Trini realised this from the moment that they almost morphed when they were play-fighting over a piece of doughnut in Krispy Kreme. Whilst their knack for being in sync and working so well together that they might as well have been the same person was creepy in everyday life, it served them pretty well when they were being Rangers. It meant that when they fought together, they did so in a way that was so graceful and beautiful to watch that it was easy to miss just how deadly a duo the two of them made. 

Trini couldn’t deny that she read into it sometimes, desperate to find a deeper meaning in the connect that she had with the girl she had a hopeless crush on, but to no avail. It just seemed that they were close as friends and that was why they worked so well together. Trini tried to move past it, convincing herself that she was ok with Kim just being another teammate, just another person fighting by her side when all hell broke loose - again. She pulled herself out of her thoughts and focused on the task at hand and the match began. Immediately, Trini and Kim were back to back, each fighting off one of the boys. Without even thinking, the two of them began to move, not quite in sync, but more like waves, giving and taking from the other, and using each other to support their attacks. Trini would roll across Kim’s back to strike at Billy, who had been punching at Kim, then Kim would aim a low kick at Zack’s legs. 

The fight continued in that vein until Zack tripped up trying to dodge Trini’s attack and ended up pinned to the sandy, rocky floor. He groaned as Trini let him up, with her offering a hand to pull him up. He gladly took it, feeling his body ache in ways that he knew would fix soon but was still annoying. Billy and Kim continued to trade blows, but Kim soon hit Billy with a combination of punches that he couldn’t block. Thus, Trini and Kim reigned champions. 

Jason picked himself up from the rock, where he had been muttering something, and addressed the other four Rangers. ‘That was really great guys! But, Zack, you gotta be more aware of your surroundings. Billy, try to flow more with your movements, you can be a bit too stiff. Trini, don’t be too aggressive sometimes, you can overdo it and then leave yourself open to attack. Kim, keep your guard up all of the time. Otherwise, that was pretty good!’

Practise continued until everyone had a round of sitting out with Alpha. To finish the days training session, after de-morphing, they went back to talk with Zordon, asking the customary questions - if any activity from Rita had been sensed, if there were any other imminent threats. The answers to all of which were no, which then lead Billy to bring up something he meant to ask Zordon and Alpha for a while. 

‘Uh, so it’s great that we can get down here through the pool of water at the bottom of the chasm, but maybe there would be a more efficient way of getting down here? Preferably one that doesn’t make us dripping wet every time we come down here? Because that kind doesn’t help with the whole keeping the Power Rangers secret’

Alpha beeped thoughtfully for a minute, before his eye-lamps literally brightened with an idea. ‘Ah, yes! Well done Master Billy, you just reminded me of something!’ Billy looked around at the others and clapped happily. ‘We have a teleporter on board - it will transport you anywhere instantly, though it hasn’t been used for a long time and I will need to fix it up before I can copy the signal that it makes and produce smaller versions that you can carry around with you anywhere so you can always get down here quickly.’

The other Rangers nodded and looked pleased but Billy raised another point. ‘Also, I don’t think that the two of you connecting through our phones to talk to us is the most efficient. What if that teleporter was also a communicator or something?’ Alpha 5 nodded excitedly and the two of them continued their tech talk. Eventually, they came to the conclusion that Alpha would construct watch-like communicator that also teleported them down to the ship. It was a pretty good idea, Trini thought, and it meant that they would always be contactable in an emergency. 

The five of them then turned to walk out of the ship, laughing and joking as normal, Trini making fun of the way that Zack had tripped over his own feet and landed on his ass during practice. The boy elbowed her playfully in the ribs, retorting ‘Yeah, well, at least I wasn’t distracted by Kim, like you were, you gay mess,’

Trini gaped in mock shock, glaring at the boy. The two then burst out laughing, though Trini denied being that big of a mess through short breaths. 

The five of them seemed happy, content, as they left the command centre of the ship, walking through to the pool and jumping through, landing on the cliff’s edge. They were walking and, once again, out of the blue, it hit her. 

Trini never wanted to leave them. They were her home.

**\--**

Detention was quiet, the only sound punctuating the gloomy silence (one that can only be made by a bunch of teenagers forced to sit it a classroom all together on a Saturday) was the monotonous ticking of the clock and the snoring of some kid in the back. Trini fiddled with her earphone, adjusting it so that it was comfortable in her ear but remained unseen - she wasn’t in the mood for her phone to be confiscated today. The dreariness of detention was inescapable, it definitely wasn’t the ideal way for her to be spending her Saturday morning.

A folded up piece of paper suddenly flew at her, almost too fast for her to grab hold of. But she grasped it with two fingers, raising an eyebrow at Zack’s smirk. She unfolded and smoothed out the crumpled note, barely able to read Zack’s illegible scrawl. 

_so, about my twitter idea. i think that we should start it today_

_ok. send this note to j then, not me._

_wow some one’s pissy_

Instead of replying, she just glared at Zack, before flinging a new note at Jason’s head. 

_zack wants to start that twitter account today_

Jason sent her a look once he unfolded her note before scribbling a reply. _ok. why are you telling me and why can't he wait_

Trini just shrugged before throwing the note back to Zack. She just wanted to be left out of it in all honesty. She wanted to nap, was that so much to ask?

Evidently, the answer was no, because even as she thought about the joy of being left alone, another note landed on her table, the folded up nature of it telling her that it was either from Billy or Kim, as Jason and Zack always screwed theirs up into little balls. 

She smoothed the note out on the table, her heart catching in her throat as she saw the slopes and loops of Kim’s handwriting. 

_trini, i’m bored_

_what do you want me to do about that?_

_let’s play tic tac toe_

_ugh fine_

_yeah boiiii_

_didn’t you throw a chair at jase for saying that the other day_

_yeah but it’s fine when i do it_

_you’re an idiot._

_:DDDD_

_let’s just play the stupid game. also i can’t believe you actually physically drew that out you fucking nerd_

Kim beat her twenty times in that detention session. Truthfully, Trini should have won over half of the time but she couldn’t resist the gleeful smile that appeared on Kim’s face every time that she won. So, if she made a couple of stupid moves, who can blame her?

**\--**

It was later that day and the Rangers were gathered in the safety of Billy’s room. The afternoon sun was streaming in through the window, adding a warm glow to the room. Everything was illuminated in soft gold hues and the dust that was drifting through the air lazily was visible.

Trini’s eyes were closed peacefully as she left the warmth and the sound of Zack’s voice wash over her. He was talking about something like the handle of their account and what kind of thing they should tweet first, and thought the idea of rebelling against Zordon’s cookie cutter ideal for them, Trini was simply too tired to pay attention to his words. 

It was only when he began to shove her, pushing her gradually off the bed that she finally moved, groaning and grumbling as she pulled herself into a reluctant sitting position. Glaring at Zack, and muttering under her breath about how she was the evil one, not Rita, she finally paid attention to what she was here to do, sort out the twitter account. 

‘Finally!’ Zack exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air dramatically and glaring at Trini. 

‘Yeah, yeah, whatever,’ she mumbled and grabbed his phone, scrolling through the information that the rest of the Rangers had put onto the account so far.

She then threw the phone back to Zack, ‘I think it’s good, yeah. And Billy can make it untraceable back to us?’ The boy nodded so she shrugged and said, ‘yeah, let’s do it then.’

‘Wait,’ Jason interrupted, all eyes snapping to him. ‘Why are we only creating a twitter account? We might as well make an instagram account for the Rangers as well.’ A cursory glance around the room showed that no one opposed the idea, so Billy nodded and got to work making the Power Rangers social media account untraceable. 

And thus the Power Rangers instagram and twitter accounts were created. 

The first thing they posted on the instagram account was a group photo of the five of them, all morphed and in stupid poses, with the caption black farted as we took this.

**\--**

To say that living in Angel Grove was more of a prison sentence than anything else would not be wrong. It was the type of small town that thrived on secrets and hierarchy, wanting to fit everyone into the little boxes that society deemed they belonged in. Angel Grove was the embodiment of society, in a way, in the way that those on different rungs on the social ladder interacted, in the way that it prayed on the weak and innocent because power meant treading on the faces of those beneath you with no remorse to be felt.

Trini was tasked with protecting this place, and on the nights when she couldn’t sleep for the fear of seeing Rita’s face again, the shadows long and dark, every movement a sign of threat, she couldn’t help but wish that she was anywhere else. That she could have coasted through the rest of high school as a loser, but one that was largely ignored instead of a target. Now she had to deal with bullies and small minded idiots with superiority complexes, knowing that when the time came, Trini would lay down her life to protect them. 

The town excelled in hiding the shadows of the judgement and hate beneath wide smiles and cheery greetings, and the falseness of it all made Trini sick. 

So, perhaps, she could cite this as a reason for the way that her blood boiled and her hands clenched into fists every time that she saw the defacement of Kim’s locker. Sure, she dealt with it by throwing the door away and moving all of Kim’s stuff into her own locker so the two of them could share, but that didn’t solve the root of the problem. Just because they had been deprived of an easy canvas for their tirade of hate against Kim didn’t mean that Amanda and her crew moved on and stopped targeting her. 

Considering everything, in that case, was it so wrong for Trini to do what she did?

Amanda and Harper were easily found in the bathroom, skipping class as usual. It was like they were trying to make it easier for her. There was a glint of recognition and their expressions morphed into gleeful, victorious smirks. To them, they were the wolves and Trini was the hapless prey. They stood up straighter, ready to hand out cutting, spiteful words against Trini, knowing her as the weird kid that stuck around their mortal enemy. 

But Trini had other plans. ‘Are you two ever going to stop being so pathetic?’ She drawled, not even looking at them, but spotting their shocked expressions out of the corner of her eye. It took a lot for her not to smirk then, vindictive satisfaction running through her veins, but she steeled herself and continued, 

‘I mean, like, move on. I ripped a fucking locker door off and you’re still trying to get at Kim? Get a life.’

‘Freak,’ Amanda (or was it Harper? The two blonde bitches looked the same to Trini) snarled at her, putting up an aggressive front as a defence against this unexpected attack. ‘Who the fuck rips off a locker door?’

Trini shrugged. ‘Someone protecting their friend, I guess. But then again, you two wouldn’t know anything about genuine friends - nah, you’re all about backstabbing and gossiping. I mean, does Harper even know that it was you who spread that rumour about her making out with Rob Turner behind the bleachers, Amanda?’ Harper turned to her friend, looking hurt and shocked, but Trini wasn’t done. ‘And does Amanda know that it was you who sent that photo to the whole school after Ty sent it to you?’ Harper’s jaw dropped, seething with rage as she glared at Trini.

The short girl began to turn away and walk out of the bathroom, throwing over her shoulder, ‘Leave me and my friends the fuck alone, ok?’ She strode out into the hallway, the fluorescent lights glaring down on her as her sneakers squeaked against the polished lino floor. 

The two girls came out after her, Harper roughly grabbing her shoulder and turning her around. ‘Who the fuck do you think you are, bitch?’ Trini raised an eyebrow at the girl, and made to turn back and begin to walk away again, but not before Amanda called out,

‘If you and your dyke girlfriend Kim think that we are gonna leave you alone after what you just did, you have another thing coming!’

Trini froze, stiffening with rage that she could barely keep contained. It buzzed under the suface of her skin and pumped through her veins, making her itch to punch them or do something equally as drastic. She turned slowly back around, her eyes cold as she looked at the two girls. Though she could feel the gaze of the now collected crowd, she drew her arm back in a flash and before anyone knew, Harper was on the floor, her nose bleeding and an expression of shock on her face as she looked up. Trini stood above her, her arm still extended and her hand still in a fist, Harper’s blood trailing down her knuckles and painting them a bright red hue. 

Amanda began to back away as Trini turned to her, murder in her eyes. ‘What part of ‘leave me alone’ didn’t you two understand?’ She growled lowly, her tone dangerous. She turned back around and stalked away, to the applause of the some of the more unpopular people in the crowd that had gathered to watch the fight.

Zack caught up with her as she walked to her locker and whistled lowly under his breath. ‘It must have taken a lot to hold back enough to not kill her.’ Trini tersely nodded as he continued. ‘Hey, next time you get in a fight with those two, let me know before.’ She turned to look at him, curious, and found his eyes burning with rage. ‘No one calls my best friends that and gets away with it, Ranger rules be damned.’

Trini felt her heart swell with love for the boy before her and though she didn’t know how to voice it, she hoped that she expressed it in the light punch she gave his shoulder and the chocolate bar she offered to buy him from the overpriced vending machines. The waste of money was worth it for the way that his face lit up with happiness and the way that her heart warmed at the sight of that. 

‘You know, Kim is gonna hate that you did that though.’ Zack mused around a mouthful of Snickers, earning a glare his friend. It was short lived though, Trini’s expression quickly falling into one of despondency.

‘I know.’ She pouted, ‘But what else could I do? They were there and being dicks. I mean, it was almost like they were asking me to get pissed off.’

Zack chuckled at her reasoning. ‘Dude, don’t worry, just chill. I’m sure Kim will appreciate it in the end. Just keep being her tiny bodyguard, ok?’

Trini lashed out with an arm, gently wacking him in the shoulder. That only elicited more laughter from him though. ‘I knew I shouldn’t have bought you that fucking Snickers,’ She grumbled under her breath.

**\--**

The time had come, Trini decided, for payback to be served. She had put up with this for too long and a little retaliation was in order. Zack had been pissing her off just a bit too much, constantly making teasing comments about her liking Kim for Trini to deal with. As much as she loved him, she had to each the boy a lesson, or else this would get out of hand.

Realistically, she knew that if she just asked Zack to stop, seriously and honestly, he would because he didn't want to hurt her or make her uncomfortable. He was one of her best friends in the world and Trini knew that. But, because the teasing really wasn't that big a deal, she knew that she could prank him and get away with it.

Trini recruited Jason, who she would have thought would be against it as the team leader. However, when she asked him, he told her that pranks were a good way to make members of a team work together and that as long as it didn’t get too serious, they were also a great way to make even people who were against each other closer. Besides, he had said with a smirk, he was always up for pranks. 

The two of them decided to hit Zack where it hurts - his hair. It was no secret that Zack took a shit load of time on his hair, trying to make sure that it looked perfect all the time. So, Trini, along with Jason, devised a plan to make sure that he would never want to piss Trini off again. 

Zack rarely invited them around to his house, not because he was ashamed, but because that there wasn’t a lot of space for the five of them, and it was simply easier to meet up at someone else’s place. Trini and Jason paid Kim and Billy off to say that their houses were unavailable one afternoon and said that theirs was as well. So, shrugging, Zack offered to let them all hang out at his, although, with a sheepish grin he said, ‘If anything gets broken again, we’re gonna have to sit outside the house though, not inside. 

Trini had chuckled, remarking, ‘It’s normally you who does the breaking, not us.’ Zack had glared playfully before they all set off to his place. 

When his back was turned as they walked, Trini whispered in a low voice to Jason, ‘Do you have the stuff?’

Jason nodded, replying, ‘How bad do we wanna get him?’

Trini smiled evilly. ‘Bad.’ The mischievous look in her eye was reflected in Jason’s and the two of them surreptitiously fist bumped before returning their attention to the group. 

Eventually, they reached his place, and for a while, the five of them sat and talked, joking and laughing just like normal. But after a bit, Jason stood up abruptly and said, ‘Yo man, can I go to the bathroom?’ 

Zack nodded, not even turning his head to look at the boy as he was talking to Billy, therefore missing the slight grin on his face. And with a quick wink to Trini that had Kim looking confused, Jason disappeared to go to the toilet. 

‘Trini, what was that? And why did you and Jason make me say that we couldn’t go to mine? You know that my parents aren’t home.’ Trini quickly motioned for her to keep her voice down and said,

‘You’ll find out soon, don’t worry,’ with a crooked grin that didn’t clear up any of Kim’s worries. 

When Jason returned from the bathroom giving a fist bump to Zack as he passed, he leaned down to Trini and whispered, ‘The deed is done,’

She rolled her eyes and shoved him away, the boy chuckling slightly as he returned to his seat beside Billy. Immediately the two of them struck up a conversation that seemed to mainly consist of Jason nodding and Billy rambling. Trini turned back to Kim, though the mischievous smile didn’t disappear from her face for the rest of the day.

**\--**

The next morning, just as Trini was getting dressed for school, her phone buzzed with an incoming text, the screen lighting up in the gloom of her room, telling her that it was Zack who had sent a message.

She swiped, typing in her passcode and unlocking the screen quickly so she could read what he had sent. 

**_‘billy cranston defense squad’ group chat:_ **

**_Wednesday, 7:54 am._ **

**_yaboizack:_ ** _WHAT THE F U CK??!!_

**_red robin:_ ** _woah chill out dude. geez_

_**yaboizack:** NO I WILL NOT 'CHILL'_

**_red robin:_ ** _why do you have to be so extra all the time?_

_**yaboizack:** SOMEONE HEL P_

_**yaboizack:** MY H A I R_

_**yellow ball of rage:** dude what the fuck are you talking about?_

_**yaboizack:** MY H AIR HAS TURNED P INK?_

_**bluebilly:** Why were you trying to dye your hair on a Wednesday morning, Zack, and if it turned pink, what colour was it supposed to be?_

_**yaboizack:** I WASN T TRYING TO DYE IT AT ALL THATS THE WHOLE P O IN T _

_**yellow ball of rage:** calm down, i’m sure it’s fine._

_**yellow ball of rage:** and if you yell at billy again i will slaughter you in your sleep, you fucking shitball. your hair isn’t worth that._

_**yaboizack:** i’m sorry billy_

_**pink ptero:** did you just call zack a shitball_

_**red robin:** yes she did. this is a glorious day to be alive_

_**pink ptero:** absolutely agreed_

_**bluebilly:** No worries, Zack! And, thanks Trini._

_**yellow ball of rage:** this chat is literally called the billy cranston defense squad. that means i will defend you, even if it is from another member of the defense squad. _

_**yellow ball of rage:** which means you can’t trust zack anymore. he betrayed you and us._

_**yellow ball of rage:** sorry z but you’re out of the squad_

_**yellow ball of rage:** i don't make the rules_

_**yaboizack:** I SAID I WAS SO RRY_

_**yellow ball of rage:** that simply isn’t good enough, zackery_

_**yaboizack:** FUCK YOU TRINITY GOMEZ _

_**yaboizack:** you won’t think i was being dramatic when you see mY HAIR_

_**yellow ball of rage:** i always think youre being dramatic, zack_

_**pink ptero:** wait, how come zack can call you trinity but i can’t?!?_

_**yaboizack:** UGH YOU HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR ME_

_**yellow ball of rage:** he cant i just dont see the point of yelling at him when im gonna punch him for it later_

_**yaboizack:** bc trini likes me more, kimmy_

_**yellow ball of rage:** yeah, that’s not true_

_**yaboizack:** yea i know. idk why i even bothered saying it_

_**pink ptero:** we all know i’m trini’s favourite_

_**yellow ball of rage:** nope definitely not_

_**yellow ball of rage:** my favourite is billy_

_**bluebilly:** No, I’m not_  
yellow ball of rage: dont betray me like this billy!!!

_**yellow ball of rage:** dont betray me like this billy!!!_

_**bluebilly:** I’m sorry, but I’m not_

_**red robin:** ok ok, stop bullyin trini_

_**yaboizack:** whatever, dad. _

_**yaboizack:** also how come you had nothing to say when they were bullying me but you come to t's defence_

_**red robin:** i can’t be your father. you’re supposed to respect your parents and i don’t think it’s possible to respect me. _

_**red robin:** and because trini doesn't deserve being bullied _

_**yaboizack:** and i do????_

_**pink ptero:** shut up jason you self-deprecating loser, you’re literally the leader of a whole superhero team, im sure loads of people respect you_

_**yellow ball of rage:** i don’t_

_**yaboizack:** nah me neither_

_**blue billy:** I respect you, Jason!_

_**pink ptero:** jesus christ_

_**yaboizack:** it’s ok you can just call me zack_

_**red robin:** fuck you zack. also, t, stop lying. we all know kim is your favourite person_

_**yellow ball of rage:** slander and lies. this is fake news_

_**yellow ball of rage:** she could die in a ditch for all i care_

_**pink ptero:** it’s bad to lie trini_

_**pink ptero:** jesus is always watching_

_**pink ptero:** i’m not ashamed to admit that you’re my favourite_

_**yellow ball of rage:** fuck all of you. fine, kim, you’re my favourite too and i wouldnt let you die in a ditch_

_**pink ptero:** ew, what are you talking about, you’re not my favourite trini_

_**yaboizack:** get fuckin rekt_

_**yaboizack:** also can we talk about how trinis benchmark for affection is not wanting someone to die in a ditch???? my girl are you ok_

_**yellow ball of rage:** fuck you kim.  
and fuck you too zack_

_**yaboizack:** we all know that you wanna fuck kim anyway_

_**yellow ball of rage:** ALKDJFHAFI WHAT THE FUCK ZACHARY _

**\--**

Trini walked into school and promptly burst into laughter. Zack, Billy and Kim were stood at her locker, with Zack’s hair a bright, garish, pink. He had tried to cram a beanie on it to hide the colour, but Kim had ripped it of, judging by the face she was holding it in her hands and laughing. The poor boy was trying to cover his hair with his hands, but he was unsuccessful.

Quick as a flash, Trini snapped a photo with her phone, despite Zack’s squeals of protest, and sent it to Jason with the simple message. mission successful

‘Who did this to me?’ Zack wailed dramatically, even going as far as to throw his hands in the air. 

‘Me’ Trini replied, looking him dead in the eyes so she could see the betrayal and hurt play across his face. Sure enough, he looked genuinely shocked, and a little bit of vindictive pleasure flared in Trini’s gut. 

‘Trini?! How could you!?’ 

‘Easy, all I had to do was put pink dye into your shampoo.’

‘Ha ha very funny,’ Zack deadpanned before a look of realisation dawned on both of their faces. 

‘Shit,’ Trini muttered and began to move away very quickly. 

‘But you didn’t go to my bathroom yesterday. Only Jason did. Which mean, you didn’t act alone!’ Zack gasped, before dismay coloured his features. ‘Even Jason betrayed me!’

Almost as if rehearsed, Jason walked through the entrance of the school doors, laughed at Zack’s hair, but then sobered when he saw the other boy’s expression. 

‘Shit, Trini, you couldn't keep it together for like two seconds?’ He groaned before running off away from Zack, with Trini next to him. The other boy took off after them, yelling about the sanctity of their friendship being tarnished forever and how messing with his hair meant war.

Eventually, he caught the two of them, and they spent the rest of the day looking dishevelled with torn clothes. Zack, however, spent a whole month with pink hair, much to the amusement of pretty much everyone. The first time that his mom saw it, she congratulated Trini and Jason, much to Zack’s outrage and displeasure. 

That was the beginning of a prank war that never ended.

**\--**

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, the sky blue and dotted with a couple of wispy clouds, but otherwise just bitterly cold. For once, Trini didn’t have any plans for the day - Jason had cancelled training because he was grounded and even if it was a bad excuse for him to be missing training, he didn’t want to make the others work when he wouldn’t have to. Jason hadn’t even done anything worth being grounded, his dad was just on his ass as normal.

As Trini was pulling herself out of her nice warm bed and toward the bathroom for a shower, her phone pinged, lighting up with a text message. She wandered over to her desk and picked up, yawning, as she walked out of the bedroom and into the hallway.

_**‘pink lemonade’:** _

_**Wednesday, 8:02 am.** _

em> **pink ptero:** t, do you wanna go to kk with me?

_**yellow ball of rage:** i always wanna go to krispy kreme_

_**pink ptero:** y’know, that’s such a big mood_

_**yellow ball of rage:** meet me there?_

_**pink ptero:** nah i will pick you up._

_**yellow ball of rage:** you sure?_

_**pink ptero:** yeah_

_**pink ptero:** be outside your house in like 5 mins_

_**yellow ball of rage:** are you already on your way? my house isn’t 5 mins away from yours?_

_**pink ptero:** i anticipated you saying yes_

_**yellow ball of rage:** wow_

_**pink ptero:** do you think there may be a possibility that we go to krispy kreme too much?_

_**yellow ball of rage:** nope definitely not_

_**pink ptero:** ok yeah, im here for living in denial_

_**yellow ball of rage:** i also liked how you didn't even consider the possibility of me doing something with someone else. like not even one of the boys._

_**pink ptero:** bitch we both know im your number one_

_**yellow ball of rage:** i have to shower but we can go as soon as we are ready_

_**pink ptero:** sounds good, im omw xxx _

Trini stared down at the phone in her hands, those three extra letters making her stomach turn and her knees weak, her hands shaking so bad, she thought she was going to drop or crush the phone. 

Kim had never sent her x’s like that in a text, and Trini knew what they meant. Was it a force of habit from texting cheerleaders, who probably all texted like that? Or was it intentional?

More importantly, why was she so hung up on this? She didn't have feelings for Kim, there was no way that she did, so why were three little letters on the end of a text such a big deal?

She thought about it all through getting ready for the day, unable to get it out of her head. It was like the world was out to get her or something - her gay heart couldn’t handle this shit. Once she had pulled on a t-shirt with a flannel over it and her comfy ripped jeans. She threw on a leather jacket as she ran out of the room and down the stairs, out to where Kim was waiting.

Krispy Kreme wasn’t that busy considering that it was a Saturday and it was one of the only tolerable coffee shops in the entire town. Trini went to claim a table whilst Kim stood in the queue, having declared that they went to this place enough for her to know Trini’s order by now. 

She looked around at the shop's customers, recognising most of the teenagers from school, though she prayed that they wouldn’t see her. She would rather go her Saturday without the mindless bullying of those who thought that she was a freak - which she technically was, being a Ranger and all, but that was cool and didn’t deserve being bullied for. 

Eventually, Kim brought their drinks back, as well as two doughnuts. She laughed at the way that Trini’s face lit up at the sight of coffee and food. ‘Dude, let me live,’ She complained, ‘It’s fucking freezing, and I’m tired as shit so coffee is literally a godsend right now.’

‘Fair enough,’ Kim shrugged with a smile, sitting down across from Trini and taking a drink from her own cup of coffee. Trini eyed the other girl over the rim of her coffee cup - the colder season suited Kim. She had red flushed cheeks from the cold and the girl looked adorable bundled up in layers to stay warm. Looking at Kim, Trini felt her cheeks heat with a blush and quickly looked away from the girl before her, trying to keep it undetectable.

The two of them sat in comfortable silence, punctured every so often by a comment or a remembered idea and that was probably the best morning that Trini had ever had. Not that she would admit it.

**\--**

Later that day, all of five of them were curled up in the living room of Jason’s house, his parents out for the evening as they were most Saturday nights. So, the five of them had decided to have one of their regular weekend movie nights under the guise of Jason babysitting his little sister for the evening. Kim and Trini were curled up together on the couch, with Trini pretending that she could still function as a human being with Kim’s head rested softly on her shoulder. She could smell her sweet shampoo, scented like strawberries, which shouldn’t have made her heart beat faster in her chest, but it did.

The group were wasting their time watching some shitty movie on Netflix, just like most movie nights. Billy and Jason were sharing a couch, Jason having asked before curling up with his legs on the couch too, since that meant they would be touching. Billy had said yes, so the two of them were also sharing a blanket and an overflowing bowl of salty popcorn. Zack, however, had set up a little pillow den on the floor like the child that he truly was. Pearl, Jason’s sister, was sitting with him, though she had rolled her eyes at his fort at first. Jason smiled softly at the sight of two people he considered family interacting so well.

Kim’s phone dinged with a text message, and Trini could feel her phone vibrate in her pocket as well. Jason fished his phone out of his pocket as well so Trini assumed that they all got the same message. Her phone screen glowed softly as she went into her messages. There was a new text from the Rangers group chat.

_**‘billy cranston defense squad’ group chat:** _

_**Saturday, 7:43 pm.** _

_**yaboizack:** guys i gotta show you smth._

_**yellow ball of rage:** why are you texting instead of speaking?_

_**yaboizack:** its ranger business and i assume that jase doesn't want his sister knowing we’re superheroes_

_**red robin:** he’s right_

_**pink ptero:** go on then_

_**blue billy:** I assume it’s important so please carry on._

_**yaboizack:** our insta account just hit 2 mil followers and our twitter is on something like 3.4 mil_

_**yellow ball of rage:** what the fucking we have legit posted one thing?_

_**yaboizack:** idk why all i know is that people, well more like teens, are loving us. some comments are from dicks but mainly people are thanking us for what we did???_

_**pink ptero:** holy shit_

_**blue billy:** What she said!_

_**red robin:** i can’t believe this stupid idea actually worked, what the fuck_

_**yellow ball of rage:** zack’s one good idea payed off_

_**yaboizack:** im feeling v attacked_

_**red robin:** ok now that we actually have a following we have to do something with it_

_**blue billy:** I have an idea!_

_**yellow ball of rage:** go on_

_**blue billy:** Well, you know how we have been helping with reconstruction on weekends sometimes? What if we morphed and did some help with our powers this time and posted some stuff about how amazing the reconstruction efforts of the town have been? I mean a lot of people have been helping out and I think that it’s also a good way to show that we are trying to help the town._

_**red robin:** great idea billy!! next weekend, we’ll go help out in our suits and maybe it will speed it up some more as well seeing as we will openly be able to use our powers_

_**yellow ball of rage:** sounds good to me_

_**pink ptero:** same. but we should do more as well._

_**red robin:** let’s keep it to this for now and when we have more ideas we’ll expand._

_**pink ptero:** k cool. can we go back to the movie now_

_**yaboizack:** lmao yeah, jase’s little sis is giving us serious side eye. she knows somethings up_

They all returned to looking at the screen, shoving phones back into pockets or putting them on the table. Pearl gave them all a weird look before shrugging and going back to paying attention to the movie

About halfway through the movie, which Trini wasn’t even watching because wrapped up against Kim and warm, she felt like thirty seconds away from sleep, Zack announced that he was hungry, leapt up from his position on the floor and padded to the kitchen on his dirty white sock-clad feet. Trini rolled her eyes at his back, but jumped about two feet in the air, as did the others, when he suddenly screamed, 

‘What the hell?! Why are there no chips?!’ 

He stormed back into the darkened living room and dramatically accused every single one of them of finishing the chips, a process that only ended after Jason guiltily admitted to the heinous crime, which made more sense, considering that it was his house and none of them had eaten chips that evening. Trini scoffed and exchanged exasperated looks with Kim in the face of Zack’s dramatics. 

Once he had made a big show of the fact that Boy Scout Jason had done something as ‘immoral’ as that, Zack grabbed each of them and literally pulled them out of the door, not even bothering to pause the movie, because, as he said himself, ‘Why would I care when I could be getting chips?’ 

Zack, for some reason, insisted that all of them needed to go to the supermarket, despite the fact that there was five of them and that one of them should really stay and take care of Pearl. But the little girl was determined to not be treated as such a child and stubbornly declared that she was more than capable of taking care of herself whilst the five of them went to the shop. Trini secretly believed that this was Pearl taking her chance to change the movie, seeing as she had wanted to watch something different to the one they all ended up putting on. 

‘Jason, don’t worry. It won’t be long,’ Billy reasoned, seeing the other boys doubt and worry. 

For a second, Jason looked like he was about to tell the others to go without him so that he wouldn’t have to leave his little sister alone, but Zack dragged him out of the door before he could say anything. Zack yelled over his shoulder for Pearl to keep watching Netflix and that they would be back soon, silencing all protests that Jason could have made.

As they made their way into town, Trini fell back to walk beside Jason, noticing the way that he had tensed when Zack called him ‘boy scout’. He still hadn’t relaxed, and Trini could tell that he still felt weird from the way that he held himself so awkwardly. 

‘You alright?’ she asked, her hands in her pockets as she peered at her friend. He only mumbled in reply and Trini felt her heartache. 

‘I just -’ Jason cut himself off and looked up at the stars as he walked. It was a clear night, and the lights in the sky shined bright, winking down at them from up above. ‘I just can never seem to stop thinking of all that I’ve lost,’

‘I get you,’ she said shortly. She knew that Jason wasn’t looking for some inspirational speech, and Trini wasn’t going to give him one. But she wanted to make sure that he knew that she was on his side and there if he needed to talk. 

She heard Jason take a deep sigh and got ready but then he said, ‘Yeah, but somehow, this is better,’ Trini turned her head sharply in surprise to look at Jason only to see him now looking at her with a sheepish expression on his face instead of at the stars. 

‘What do you mean?’ she asked

‘I mean that even though I lost the support of the town, I have you guys and that’s ok,’ he said simply before walking faster to catch up with the others, where Zack was belting the chorus of “No Scrubs” at the top of his lungs along with Kim. Jason joined in with a grin on his face, and Trini, from her position a little bit behind the others, broke out into a grin as well, happy to see that he was alright now, even if he was actually just covering up how he really felt which she suspected he was. 

Trini briefly got caught up in thoughts of how much she herself had changed as well - she was never one for friends or expressing sympathy or solidarity or really any emotion at all. The person that Trini was before becoming a Ranger would never have been able to recognise who she was now. 

She couldn’t help but think that was a good thing.

****

**\--**

A few minutes later the five of them stood outside of Angel Grove’s only 24/7 supermarket, having to prepare themselves before they entered; Jason had once said that he was pretty sure that time didn’t pass in these places, and honestly, Trini was inclined to agree.

No matter what time of day that you went in, even when it was like noon or something, it was always the same - the smell of gone off milk was always just about able to be detected, it was staffed by the same sleep deprived, slightly depressed looking workers, identical deals were on offer as the last time that you shopped there - which was probably like three months ago because, let’s face facts, it was a godless place.

The harsh bright lights of a contrast to the pitch black night outside, flickered as the Rangers bravely walked in, the automatic doors sliding open to admit them into the cool, air-conditioned, stark white supermarket. They all considered it a more perilous adventure than fighting any enemy - 24/7 markets sent a chill through everyone’s body, citizen and Ranger alike. 

They had been there for around about 0.3 seconds before Zack yelled, his voice seemingly way too loud in the relatively empty room, ‘I call riding in the cart!’

Jason paused, just about to grab the handle of an abandoned shopping cart that had been near the entrance. He sighed and turned to his friend and said, ‘Zack, you’re over six foot. I really don’t think that you will fit.’ Trini winced at that as she knew what would follow:

‘Is that a fucking challenge?’ Zack sounded outraged and Trini could almost visualise this going badly. 

Jason shook his head disbelievingly. ‘It’s really not. In fact, I am asking you not to try and sit in the cart,’

So, of course, Zack went to sit in the cart. But he was quickly pulled away by Kim, and even as Jason sent her a grateful smile, she sent him a mischievous grin and hopped into the metal frame herself. The look of pride on her face was actually concerning considering the fact that she was a 17-year-old superhero. 

Trini had never seen Jason look so disappointed as he did at that moment. Billy had to stifle a laugh, for which Jason fake pouted at.

‘You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,’ Trini muttered and rolled her eyes grumpily, although she couldn’t deny it was kind of amusing, and stalked off to find another cart, towing Billy and Zack along with her, her jacket flapping around her dramatically. Kim stared after her, pouting at being rejected by her best friend in such a way. Jason looked after them as well, half wishing that Billy had stayed with him, and half grateful that he had gone with Zack and Trini because he would end up keeping them out of trouble.

‘Come on, Kim,’ Jason said, sighing and shaking her head, affection seeping into his voice despite the dramatically irritated tone that he used. 

So, with Jason manning the shopping cart. the two of them ventured into the treacherous aisles of the supermarket. To his amusement, the cart creaked under Kim’s weight, and he said, ‘You’re literally just as tall as Zack and probably as if not more muscled,’ Kim smiled at that and nodded appreciatively, ‘Get out of the fucking cart,’

‘Not gonna happen, Scotty-boy,’ Kim smiled smugly as Jason scowled, sprawling in the cart and draping her feet and arms outside of the metal frames. 

A mischievous glint twinkled in Jason’s eye as he smiled, deciding that it was time he let loose, before using all of his Ranger strength to push the cart as fast as he could, before jumping onto the metal bar between the two back wheels, hooting and whooping as the two of them zoomed through the aisles, their cackles of laughter echoing.

****

**\--**

Meanwhile, Trini, Zack and Billy managed to find another cart which had been ominously abandoned in the middle of the fresh produce aisle even though it was empty

‘You see, Billy?’ Zack yelled victoriously, just as extra as he also was. ‘The cart’s just left there, 24/7 supermarkets are totally fucking haunted!’

Shrugging and disregarding any suggestion of the supermarket being populated by ghosts who abandon carts, Trini grabbed it by the handle and began pushing it down the aisle. Then, with Zack being Zack, he leapt up and stood on the bar between the two front wheels of the cart, doing the Titanic pose despite the fact that he just pointed out how creepy the cart was and the fact that Trini had told him not to do the Titanic pose, as they continued to cruise through the supermarket until they found the snack food aisle. 

The three teenagers then proceeded to fill the shopping cart with at least one of all the varieties of chips that they could find, before moving on to the other stuff like pretzels and popcorn. Soon their cart was pretty full, but then Billy lit up with extra enthusiasm and said,

‘Let’s get cereal!’

Zack and Trini looked equally as delighted, shouting, ‘Yeah!’ and the three of them rushed off to find some sugary cereal or something. 

And that was when shit started to go down.

They reached the cereal aisle and grabbed all the usual ones, like Lucky Charms and Cap’n Crunch, but just as they were about to grab the last family size box of Froot Loops, someone else's hand came out of nowhere and took it right before their eyes. 

They looked to their right in shock to see what looked like some mom or something, judging from the contents of her cart, looking at them as if she was daring them to come at her. She had deep bags underneath her eyes, and she looked so done with life. She looked ready to attack, and they may be superheroes, but none of them were ready to fight a mom. 

So instead, they all backed away slowly with identical scared and wide-eyed looks on their faces and let her put the cereal in her cart and wheel out of the aisle. A small moment of silence passed before Zack said, 

‘Froot Loops are my favourite, too,’ he was literally pouting and Trini didn’t even look as she reached up and smacked him upside the head.

'Dont hit me just because you're missing your girlfriend, you gay.'

'What the fuck did you just say?!' Trini turned on him and Billy had to plead with her not to attack him whilst Zack ran away and hid behind a display.

****

**\--**

An honestly pretty concerning amount of time later, considering the fact that they just went to get chips, Trini, Zack and Billy approached the checkout, wheeling the cart that now had one wheel missing, with Trini and Zack looking like they both got beaten up whilst Billy looked normal.

Kim and Jason, who had been a lot faster than the other three, stared at them for a second before sighing. ‘I’m not even gonna ask. Just, not gonna ask,’

Trini and Zack looked at each other, matching guilty expressions on their faces. Billy winced as he said, ‘That is probably for the best,’ and he then started to unpack their cart of cereal, instant noodles and a truly ungodly amount of chips, pretzels and popcorn. 

The other two looked at them in horror before staring down at what they had gotten, which was two packets of candy, bread, milk and juice. 

Kim said in a shocked tone, ‘For once, I was the responsible one. This is weird,’ 

Zack snorted and said, ‘What did you expect would happen when you paired off with Boy Scout Jason?’

‘For the last fucking time, I was never a boy scout,’ Jason muttered bitterly, prompting Zack to hook his arm around his shoulders and say, 

‘Sure you weren’t, buddy!’

Trini winced and looked at Jason with a smile on her face to try and comfort him, but it was clear from the way that his expression didn’t change that he was either over the feelings from earlier, or he had gotten way better at hiding them in a very short amount of time.

She couldn’t deny that she felt a twinge of sympathy for the guy manning the checkout but he didn’t even blink at the stuff that he was scanning. Not at the ridiculous amount of chips, or at all the cereal he was scanning mean that they seemed to need 5 family size boxes of the stuff, two of which were Lucky Charms, or at the fact they had bought enough instant noodles to survive for a solid couple of months in a zombie apocalypse.

Once he had scanned the final item, he turned to them with an expression that conveyed exactly how dead he was inside, and said in a monotone voice,

‘That’ll be $52.69,’

From beside Trini, there came a muffled choke of laughter as Zack covered his chuckles with the sleeve of his sweater. ‘Hahah, 69,’ His laughter turned to a cry of pain when Trini punched him in the arm, though she wasn’t actually surprised at his immaturity.

‘Dude, shut up.’ she muttered to him, glaring at him despite his insulted expression

‘Jesus Christ, Zack,’ Jason agreed with Trini and rolled his eyes in exasperation and turned to apologise to the cashier but the guy looked like he didn’t give a shit. 

‘Jase, just give him the money and let’s go,’ muttered Kim, backed up by Billy’s nodding, so he started rooting around in his pockets and paled as he came up with nothing.

‘Uh, I might have forgotten my wallet?’ It came out as more of a question as he smiled weakly at the guy behind the register and turned to the others, ‘Alright, one of you assholes must have money on you.’ 

Kim sighed, whipped out a couple of crumpled bills from her back pocket and sent a sweet smile towards the guy as she handed them over, insisting that he kept the change. ‘Thanks, we will be on our way now,’ She gestured to the others to grab some of their stuff as they didn’t even bother with bags, just walked out of the supermarket with their arms laden with chips and cereal. 

‘How much food did you guys get?!’ muttered Jason as they carried it all back to the house, ‘And we totally should have gotten bags for this shit,’ he added. ‘We bought this for my house not for all of you. You guys probably won't even be the ones to eat this.’

‘Stop giving us reasons to come over to your house and bother you, Jase.’ Trini quipped, barely able to see over her pile of chips. 

‘And are you forgetting that we are the literal Power Rangers?’ Billy said in a deadpan, which Trini couldn’t help but find amusing on the normally enthusiastic boy. Jason tilted his head quizzically, and Billy sighed before super-jumping up into the air and down the street. The rest of them watched as he disappeared into the night and they couldn’t deny that if he continued like that, Billy would be at the house in seconds compared to the time that it would take them to walk normally. 

Although they were supposed to be concealing and hiding the fact that they were the Rangers, they were also teenagers and super lazy was a better way to describe them rather than superheroes. 

The way that Jason’s face lit up as he watched Billy jump down the street made him look like a child filled with wonder. 

The others all shook their heads at him as they followed Billy, and the leader of the Rangers was left bringing up the rear of a group of teenagers using the powers that had been gifted to them to not save the world but instead bring the groceries home. 

Pearl barely looked up when the five of them walked through the door, not tearing her eyes away from the tv for a single second as she muttered, ‘Took you long enough.’ When they began talking loudly, she finally turned to look them and blanched at the pure amount of food that the five of them had bought. 

She looked like she was about to say something, but closed her mouth and just turned back to the tv. Trini stifled a laugh at that, as did Kim and the two of them shared an amused look that Trini had to pretend didn’t make her heartbeat quicken

None of them could be bothered to put the food that they had bought away, so instead they just ended up sitting back in the living room with Billy and Jason going back to their couch from before whilst the rest of them all made themselves comfortable on the floor or, in Trini and Kim’s case, the couch that they had monopolised early that evening. 

They decided to all stay the night, for various reasons. They were all pretty comfortable and didn’t really want to move but there were other reasons as well. Jason wanted to have support for when his parents came home and would take the chance of Pearl being asleep to yell at him for a while. Trini didn’t want to go home and have to face a barrage of questions from her mom about where she had been and what she was doing with who. Zack needed a break from taking care of his mom, and Kim didn’t want to go back to an empty house, with her mom and dad always working and never being home. Billy just wanted to give his mom a break, knowing that she needed time to herself sometimes. So they all stayed like that. 

At least until about two am when Trini woke up suddenly, her mouth and throat parched. She stumbled off the couch, easing Kim’s legs off of her to go find some water. She stood by the sink as she drank, taking comfort in the quiet and peace of the night, the low lights that illuminated the kitchen and the gentle sounds of the others sleeping in the living room. 

All of a sudden, whilst she was still in the kitchen, Jason’s mom and dad returned from their night out, walking through their front door expecting to see Jason watching tv if he wasn’t in his room, and for him to say Pearl was in her room and asleep. 

What they were not expecting, however, was to see was four teenagers camped out in their living room with blankets and pillows and limbs strewn everywhere, and Peal’s head poking out from underneath the arm of a boy they didn’t even know. 

Trini watched from the kitchen doorway as Mr Scott went to wake them up, to tell them to go to their own houses and sleep there instead of his living room, but his wife caught a hold of his arm and silently pointed, her finger directing her husband’s gaze to Jason’s body. The couple saw him cosied up with his friends, the most peaceful and happy look on his face that they had seen for a long time. Her heart melted at the sight, a smile on her face as well, happy that her friend wasn’t struggling even in his dreams. 

Trini smiled as his parents left and went through to their own bedroom, before creeping back to Kim’s side, briefly heartwarmed by the peaceful and content smile on her face, quickly falling back asleep in the living room full of her favourite people.

****

**\--**

Trini had made a grave mistake, and she had been a naive fool. She should have realised that she couldn’t expect Zack to hold back anything after she messed with his precious hair. But she hadn’t expected retaliation like this.

Trini quietly cursed Zack with all the words that she could think of, praying to God or whoever else that she could get her hand free before the first bell went. If she was late again, they would call her mom and she highly doubted that she would accept Trini’s hand being superglued to her car door as a reasonable excuse.

Barely a couple of feet away, just out of her reach, stood the culprit - Zack was filming her predicament on his phone for snapchat. 

‘I swear to God, I’m gonna castrate you.’ She glared at him and spat the words at him but he just laughed in return

‘You messed with my hair, Trini! You dyed it pink! What was I supposed to do?’

‘Not fucking this!’ The others were assembled behind Zack and though they weren’t laughing as much as him, there was no doubt that they found the scene amusing - Trini desperately trying to tug her hand off of her car door and glaring at them all every two seconds. ‘Hey, why the fuck haven’t you done anything to Jason?’

‘Don’t worry,’ Zack muttered darkly, before turning around and shooting a look at Jason, who paled comically. ‘His retribution is coming.’ Jason moved slightly behind Billy, fear on his features. Kim burst out laughing at this, her concealed chuckles at Trini’s predicament turning into fully fledged laughter at Jason.

‘Kim, help me!’ Trini hissed, trying to get the other girl on her side without Zack realising. Kim just shook her head though, a wry smile on her lips. 

‘Sorry, T. As much as I want to, Zack made us all swear not to help you or else he would prank us too. I don’t want him to do this shit to me, so you’re on your own.’ She shrugged at Trini, who fumed.

‘Fuck you.’ Kim winked cheekily at her and Trini turned away, her cheeks flaming. ‘Goddamnit, Kim.’ She muttered under her breath, before continuing to try and work her hand away from the car door. 

‘Hey, what’s all this?!’ A sudden yell came, from one of the teachers on patrol for late or truanting students. He was far enough that he couldn’t see who they all were, but only Jason and Billy ran off when he appeared. 

‘Why aren’t you guys getting away?’ Trini asked them, cocking her head and holding her hand still at last, resigned to her fate.

Kim sighed, running a hand through her hair and explained: ‘Well, Jase and Bill will get calls home if they get in trouble one more time. Zack’s call home was last time, and I don’t think that the school really wants to go through that with him again - his mom was totally on his side and chewed administration out.’ Zack grinned at them with that. ‘As for me, I just don’t care. I’ve gotten in so much trouble this year, my parents aren’t even in town so they can’t do anything to me.’

Trini shrugged, ‘Fair enough.’ But she also made a mental note to make sure that Kim was alright and go over to hers more often. 

The teacher finally ran up to them in all his balding middle-aged glory., huffing and panting before pointing an accusing finger at all of them. ‘What do you all think you’re doing?’ He finally managed to get out. 

‘Zack superglued my hand to my car.’ Trini explained, bored, and Zack waved at him cheekily. 

‘Zack Taylor, detention. So what are you doing here, Hart?’ He asked suspiciously. 

‘Ah, Zack recruited me to help him.’ She shrugged and feigned casualty. ‘And before you say it, I already know. Detention.’ 

He nodded at her and glared before asking. ‘What about the two kids who ran off before I got here?’

‘What kids?’ Trini asked, cocking her head and smiling sweetly at the teacher. ‘I don’t know anyone else in the world but these two people right here.’ Kim and Zack nodded along, and the teacher simply sighed. 

‘Whatever. I’m not paid enough to care about those two. Kimberly and Zack, stop bullying Trini.’ 

‘They weren’t bullying me.’

‘But you just said that they super glued your hand to your car.’ 

‘Doesn’t mean they were bullying me.’ Trini shrugged and leaned back against the car.

‘What were they doing, then?’

‘Revenge.’ She explained simply.

Zack piped up helpfully, ‘She dyed my hair pink for a month.’ He gestured to his head and sure enough, there was still a slight pink tinge to the ruffled hair. 

The teacher looked at them all with an expression that showed that he literally couldn’t handle this right now, before sighing and pulling out the pink detention slips from his pocket.

‘Whatever. If you weren’t bullying her than you were all truanting. Gomez, I won't give you a slip because you technically didn’t do anything.’

‘Ah, I wouldn’t say that now.’ Trini grinned wide and sharp, deciding that she honestly didn’t care about the punishment that she knew she would receive from her parents for yet more detentions. The teacher looked at her questioningly. ‘I kicked Zack in the balls.’

Zack looked at her weirdly. ‘No you didn’t?’

Trini smirked and lashed out with her foot, catching Zack in the crotch. In between the whole teacher thing and him turning around to glare at Jason before, he had, though he was unaware of it, come closer to Trini and in range of an attack.

He dropped to the ground, holding back curses and glared up at Trini. Kim had to hold back her laughter, her face turning red with the effort of it.

‘Next time, don’t fucking superglue me to a car, dumbass.’ Trini hissed at him. 

‘Zero-tolerance policy on violence of any kind. Detention, Gomez.’ the teacher sighed and handed her a pink slip, before writing out one each for the other two. Kim took hers with a sweet smile, and the teacher dropped Zack’s on the floor in front of him. 

‘Why did I ever think that I wanted to work with kids? I hate teenagers.’ they could hear him grumble as he walked away, much to their amusement. Zack stumbled up from the floor and braced himself against the car as he did so.

‘Ok, but I’m still stuck.’ Trini deadpanned after a while. Kim and even Zack broke off into peals of laughter. Much to her chagrin, Trini also smiled, laughing softly along with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies for any occ-ness but i hope yall enjoyed the chapter. 
> 
> hmu on tumblr @ unhauntng
> 
> chapter title taken from the front bottoms' "vacation town"


	2. im here to bear the weight of it all; when you fall on the floor

_**‘billy cranston defense squad’ group chat:** _

**_Monday, 6:54 am_ **

**_blue billy:_ ** _Can you guys meet me at my locker before class?_

**_yaboizack:_ ** _sure. you ok?_

**_blue billy:_ ** _Yes. I promise that, for once, this is good news._

**_red robin:_ ** _wow. that makes for a change amirite_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _uhhh can you never ever type out amirite again pls_

**_blue billy:_ ** _I have to agree with her, Jason. It isn’t exactly correct English._

**_red robin:_ ** _i’ll remember this betrayal trini. guess whos gonna get punished through extra training._

**_red robin:_ ** _spoiler its trini_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _what the fuck billy agreed with me. why am i being punished for being right_

**_red robin:_ ** _being right isn’t the issue. i have the ability to torture you so i will_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _this is homophobic_

**_pink ptero:_ ** _you can’t say that anytime anyone is mean to you trini_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _whats stopping me_

**_yaboizack:_ ** _idk, maybe the possibility that you dont always have to be a dramatic shit?_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _i am hardly the most extra here_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _not when z and k are part of the equation_

**_yaboizack:_ ** _this isn’t about me_

**_yaboizack:_ ** _the first step to overcoming an issue is admitting you have one_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _fuck you_

**_yellow ball of rage:_ ** _see you guys at school_

**\--**

Billy and Alpha 5 were officially geniuses. Well, Billy certainly was, but Trini wasn’t sure if an android or whatever the hell that little thing was, could qualify as a genius if all of its intelligence was artificial and programmed. But that’s beside the point.

Trini had walked into school, her bag slung carelessly over her shoulder, her books spilling out of the open zip, and clutching a coffee in her hand. She brightened up the second that she had seen Kim, leaning against Billy’s locker with a bored expression. She had been scrolling through her phone, but hurriedly locked it and slipped it into her leather jacket’s pocket. Trini noted that with a raised eyebrow, but let it go, looking around with a sigh.

‘Where are the others?’

‘I have no idea.’ Kim replied. ‘Billy told us to meet here before class but even he isn’t here.’

‘Really? I couldn’t sneak out this morning so I had to deal with my mom in order to be here early.’ Trini groaned, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the lockers with a sigh. The cool metal was comforting, but she could feel the vibrations of other locker doors being slammed. Honestly, despite the fact that it was bothering her, she still couldn’t be bothered to remove her head. She was simply too exhausted - the kind of tiredness that you can feel in your bones, your heart, your mind. It was the kind of exhaustion that spread throughout your whole body and Trini had reached a point where all she wanted to do was sleep, no matter the nightmares it would bring.

‘What a mood.’ Trini heard Kim say, in reference to her collapsed position against the lockers.

‘Not helpful.’

‘Sorry. How can I help?’

‘Don’t worry, I was kidding. But, if you could inject this coffee into my veins, I would really appreciate it.’

Kim laughed, but before she could reply, Trini heard Zack approach. He was yelling so she knew that it was definitely him. She reluctantly raised her head and opened her eyes. Zack appraised her before saying, ‘Wow, T, you look dead.’

‘I am.’

‘How relatable.’ Zack sighed and nodded, and Trini finally took notice of his tired expression, exhausted slump and his dark deep eye bags. 

‘You alright, man?’

‘Yeah, I’m fine. Long night.’ He dismissed the matter with a wave of his hand and smiled at the two of them, trying to show that it was all alright. Trini wasn’t entirely sure how much she believed him, but was too tired to force some kind of conversation about, so she simply let it go.

There, the three of them waited for the other two to appear, watching the other students pass by, talking and chattering. A couple of times, jocks and cheerleaders glared at them or sent them judgemental looks or occasionally a taunt. But the three of them were far too tired to rise to any sort of bait. They mainly responded by flipping them all off with a middle finger in a freaky kind of unison. 

Eventually, Jason and Billy walked down the hall, talking to each other. The bright expression on their faces caught Trini’s attention - for the two of them to smile like that at this time in the morning, there really must be some good news coming. 

‘So, come on then,’ Zack said as the two of them approached. ‘What’s the news that made us all get here early?’

With a beaming grin that was even brighter than usual, Billy gathered the other Rangers into a huddle around his locker, trying to make sure that no one else would be able to see what he drew out of his bag. After rummaging in his bag for a second, he proudly presented the four of them with a watch-like device. 

‘I finished the communicators that Alpha 5 and I have been working on last night.’ Billy said, in a low voice. His grin was wide and infectious, the four of them mirroring it, glad to finally have some sort of good news. 

This was definitely good news to Trini - she was admittedly incredibly tired of having to jump into that pool of water every time they went down to the ship. It was a great secret entrance, but that didn’t mean that it was enjoyable to have to swim through the deep pool and fall onto the rocky floor below. 

‘They come equipped with a teleporter that means that we can go between the ship and the town easily. We don’t have to risk detection anymore.’ Bill continued, smiling around at all his friends. Jason breathed a sigh of relief at that and sent the other an appreciative smile that he happily returned. 

Trini knew that keeping the secret had been difficult for them all, especially her and Jason with their nosy and controlling parents. These communicators were beginning to seem like a godsend, only convincing her more that Billy was a literal angel on earth

‘Also,’ Billy continued, ‘We can converse easily with Zordon and Alpha through these.’

‘What, like a walkie talkie?’ Kim asked, cocking her head.

‘Yeah, sorta.’ Billy scrunched up his nose, a little put out at his genius technology being simplified and compared to something like a walkie talkie but that was essentially the way that the communication between them and the ship worked.

‘Lastly, they only respond to the specific Ranger that they have been built for. For example,’ Billy held out the black strapped watch to Zack, ‘This one will only work for Zack. That way, our secret is a little bit safer.’ 

Zack grabbed it eagerly, his eyes alight with wonder. Billy laughed at his expression before passing out the rest of the communicators. Trini’s was presented to her with a soft smile from Billy and she took the communicator eagerly. 

The strap for it was a muted yellow and the buttons along the side of it were a contrasting black colour. Zack leaned over and compared the two of theirs. His strap was black, the same shade as the circular metal face of the communicator. However, his buttons were white. 

Trini looked up from the devices and smiled widely at Billy. ‘Thanks, dude! These are amazing. Although it means Wall Dad can constantly bother us.’ She trailed off as the others groaned, a smirk on her lips. 

‘Why you gotta bring us down, T!’ Kim looked at her with fake outrage. The bell rang, and Trini rolled her eyes. 

‘Jase, ready for Math?’ she asked, receiving an answering scowl from the boy. Trini laughed at his expression, agreeing with the reaction. Math was the worst, no doubt about it. But the two of them went off to class regardless, knowing they had to keep a low profile since all the shit before they became Power Rangers.

Kim and Billy went off to their shared History class whilst Zack went to his English room. They would all be together all of the lunch period, but Trini couldn’t help but find herself feeling a little bit emptier with only Jason beside her instead of Kim. His warm smile helped, but her hand ached to link with Kim’s. 

Wow. She was in deep.

**\--**

‘So, as you can see, this is proof that the theorem is true. Any questions?’

The teacher droned on and on at the front of the class, and Trini felt her eyelids and grow heavy and she was distantly aware that they were beginning to drop. Jason shoved her slightly, jolting her awake, and she sent him a grateful smile. 

He nodded at her, before turning back to the teacher. Though Jason looked like he was listening to the inane drivel coming out of the math teacher’s mouth, she could tell that he wasn’t. There was a blank look in his eyes, making it obvious that he wasn’t paying attention. 

Mr Kane, the teacher, had drawn some diagrams on the whiteboard, but out of context, Trini had no idea what they were trying to show. Normally, Math was one of the classes that she could ace without paying attention, but it was becoming more obvious that her lack of sleep was making her grades slip.

The bell rang, and Trini slipped out of seat and grabbed her bag. Next was English, a class that 4 out of 5 of them shared - Zack had another class on his own before lunch. Trini was thankful that she had Jason in this class, because even if he wasn’t listening, he had good notes. Jason wasn’t as good at math so he made amazing notes with all the information that anyone could need because otherwise, he would have no idea what to do during tests.

‘Did you do the homework for English?’ Trini asked Jason as the two of them navigated the busy halls together.

‘Goddamnit!’ Jason said, stopping in his tracks and pulling a pained expression. He started walking again, sighing deeply. ‘No, I forgot about it.’

‘Don’t worry, dude, just say that you forgot but you’ll have it done by tomorrow. She can’t be that mad at you.’

‘Mrs Griffin hates me.’ Jason said with a forlorn expression. He looked like someone had kicked his puppy.

‘No she doesn’t,’ Trini snorted disbelievingly. ‘I don’t think that she has the capacity to hate anyone.’

‘Not true. She hates me. Just wait, I’ll show you.’

‘Ok, sure.’

**\--**

Jason jiggled his leg nervously as Mrs Griffin came around the desks to collect the homework that she had set. He shot a glance at Trini just as she came around to him.

‘Can I have your homework please, Jason?’

‘Sorry, Mrs Griffin, I forgot. But I can have it done for you tomorrow?’

The older woman, normally sweet and mild mannered, sent him a dark look. ‘This isn’t good enough. I’m very disappointed in you, Jason.’ She moved on, and Jason turned to Trini and sent her a distressed look. 

‘See?’ he hissed at her. Unfortunately, Trini wasn’t the only one who heard him. Mrs Griffin’s head snapped up and she glared at the poor boy.

‘Jason! No talking. Detention.’ He nodded at the teacher, before looking down at his desk, frustrated. Meanwhile, Kim and Trini were killing themselves with laughter, struggling to stay quiet. Billy sent Jason an apologetic and sympathetic look. Jason just sighed and focused on what the teacher was saying about the Gatsby’s and Daisy’s relationship.

**\--**

‘So, guys,’ Jason began as he plopped unceremoniously into his place at the lunch table where they all usually sat. Zack, Trini, Billy and Kim were already in their seats, eating their lunches with varying degrees of enthusiasm and willingness.

Billy was lucky to enough to have a lunch from home which he munched away happily on whilst Trini struggled through a school meatloaf, the same thing that Zack wolfed down without a care. Kim, meanwhile, simply refused to eat it, preferring to offer her lunch to Zack instead, who happily accepted. Trini honestly couldn’t understand how he managed to eat school lunch all the time like he did. It was baffling. 

Kim pulled out a Snickers bar from her jacket pocket and snapped it in half. Trini looked at her curiously, and she handed one half to her. ‘Holy shit, thanks!’ Trini yelled. Kim just laughed. 

‘Don’t stress about it. It’s just a Snickers.’ 

Zack dropped his cutlery and stared at Kim in disbelief. ‘Did you just say that it was “just a Snickers”?’

‘Here we go.’ mumbled Trini, shoving Kim for starting this. It was common knowledge that Snickers were Zack’s favourite and he would not stand for them not being shown the respect that he thought they deserved. 

But before he could launch into the rant that they had already heard too many times, Jason held up a hand to stop him. Zack turned and looked at him, along with the others, though Trini was actually pretty surprised that he postponed his rant just because Jason held up a hand. 

‘Can we not talk about Snickers for a second? I have something important to say.’Other kids rushed about and the noise of them almost drowned out his words - which turned out to be a good thing as he continued, the others leaning in to listen. 

‘It turns out that being Rangers had changed us.’

‘What do you mean?’ 

‘Our minds have changed.’ Jason said.

Trini felt her heart stutter and skip a couple of beats. Panic raced through her body as her mind immediately jumped to the worst conclusion possible. Kim reached out and laced her fingers with hers, trying to keep her calm, though Trini could see that the other girl was just as concerned about what Jason said. The others looked pretty freaked out at his words and he elaborated quickly. ‘All I mean is that we are in sync. Like we are all functioning on the same frequency or something.’

Trini’s heart was still racing through relief flooded through her once Jason had elaborated. She leant forward and added, ‘Yeah, I’ve noticed that lately actually. Like, this morning, when we were waiting for you two, Kim and Zack and I were all doing stuff in sync, like when we flipped off those jocks.’

Kim and Zack nodded along with her, looking excited. Jason looked at them, slightly annoyed that they had done that but glad that they knew what he was on about. 

Trini continued. ‘Not only being in sync but like I can tell what you’re going to do seconds before you do it or something like that.’

Jason excitedly pointed at her and nodded quickly. ‘Yeah, exactly like that!’

‘But that’s only happened when we are morphed. I thought it just came with the armour or else it was in the heat of battle or something and all in my head.’ Trini frowned. 

’That’s how it starts, apparently. But Alpha was saying to me that our bond as a team has strengthened to the point where abilities like that will become more pronounced and be more noticeable. He also said that other abilities will appear soon.’

Billy piped up. ‘This sounds amazing! I wonder what the science is behind it. Could Zordon’s team do this?’

‘Apparently, yes, but Zordon said that not all Ranger teams develop the same abilities. So, like, we may have different things to what he did. Or different members of our team could develop other skills or traits.’

‘Shit, now I’m nervous.’ Kim remarked, leaning back in her seat. Trini nodded her agreement. It was incredibly weird to be sitting in the middle of a busy school cafeteria and talking casually about how alien technology might have altered their biology.

Billy pitched in again. ‘So what kind of mind link is this? Will we just be able to predict how each other move or what we say? Will it be different?’ Jason shrugged helplessly.

‘As Zordon said, we don’t know what could develop and how it will differ from other teams and from each other. I guess we just have to wait to find out. Zordon and Alpha said something about how this might take longer than usual due to the fragility of human minds.’ 

‘Jesus Christ, why say anything if they don’t actually know what’s happening? I don’t need to be worrying about this right now.’ Trini sighed, rolling her eyes. Kim nodded in agreement and Jason gave her a sympathetic look.

Zack groaned. ‘Enough talk of Ranger stuff. Partly because it isn't exactly safe here, in the middle of the cafeteria, and partly because I'm bored of it.’

‘How the hell can you be bored when we are talking about changes that will literally affect us in countless of ways?’ Can we go get burgers or something from that diner around Jason’s house after school?’ 

‘How can you be thinking of dinner as you eat lunch?’ Billy stared at Zack in amazement, who just shrugged, his mouth full. 

‘What can I say? I’m a multitasker.’ Trini scoffed and stood back, the plastic legs of her chair scraping against the floor of the cafeteria. 

‘You’re an idiot, that’s what you are. I gotta go but I will catch you guys later, ok?’ They all nodded and stood up themselves, seeing as it wasn’t long before the bell would ring anyway. ‘But, yeah, Zack, I’m up for getting burgers tonight.’ 

A wide grin broke out of his face and he fist pumped. ‘Yeah, boi!’

Kim groaned, ‘I swear,’ she threatened as they walked side by side down the hallway, ‘If you don’t stop saying that I will throw another chair at you.’

‘You wouldn’t dare.’ Zack scoffed, disbelievingly.

‘Try me. I already have detention till I die. You can’t touch me, Taylor.’

Zack backed away, fearing the maniacal glint in Kim’s eye, for once not doubting that she really would follow through with the threat. Trini laughed at his expression and Kim’s seriousness. 

‘Chill, both of you,’ She said, just as the bell rang, sharp and piercing through the halls. Reluctantly, they split, each heading off to their own class. 

‘Don’t forget about the burgers!’ Zack yelled over the heads and noise of passing classmates. Trini threw him a thumbs up over the crowd and he nodded in response. 

Like she would ever forget about burgers.

**\--**

Just because Kim was no longer a bully, terrorising the halls of Angel Grove High, didn’t mean that any of the other kids that preyed on the vulnerable magically became better people.

Trini was a little bit sick of receiving treatment that she would never have gotten from her peers had she just kept her head down and never become friends with the two ex-popular kids. Just because they no longer lived at the top of the hierarchy didn’t mean that any of their previous ‘friends’ or anyone else in the school for that matter, stopped paying attention to them. 

Only now, instead of searching for ways to get on their good side, people now were desperate to find any sort of ammunition against Jason or Kim. The popular kids now delighted in torturing their former friends, and the rest of the school just wanted the popular cliques to like them so they were willing to do anything. 

Trini wasn’t too happy about that as she often got caught in up in it all, considering the fact that she was friends with the two main targets in the entire school. Of course, it didn’t mean that anything would change between the five of them, it was just that constant harassment was something she could do without. Plus, a lot of students were using her sexuality as a target, and if her parents caught wind of that, from teachers or parents or anything, she would be screwed.

‘Damn, I gotta say - I miss the days when nobody knew my name.’ Trini grumbled as she approached Kim and Zack. She straightened out her jacket, having just been harassed and shoved about by some jock. Her papers and books had been thrown on the floor and she payed attention to sorting out her stuff as opposed to watching her friends’ concerned reactions to her words.

‘What happened?’ Kim frowned, concerned about what could be happening that made Trini miss the days where she didn’t have friends. 

‘Some fucking assholes think that they can push me around just because I’m small.’ Due to the fact that she was still sorting her books into her bag, Trini missed the thunderous expression that overtook Kim’s face. Zack looked panicked, tapping Trini quickly on the shoulder and gesturing wildly to Kim. 

‘Do something!’ He hissed desperately. Trini looked up and realised what she had said and how it would affect a Kim who no longer cared what people thought of her.

‘No, Kim! Don’t worry, it’s fine. I just wish we could use our powers to make sure no one fucked with us, that’s all.’ Trini waved her hands around, panicking, trying to soothe and calm the girl. God knows none of them need any more detentions. Kim nodded, still looking annoyed and ready to fight, but Trini knew that this would be the best that she could get.

Crisis averted, thank God. 

At least till fucking Ty Flemming and his lackey came up to them. They thought that they were threatening but, apparently, the lack of big, strong ex-footballer Jason Scott and Billy, who was now known as the guy who knocked out that ginger bully kid, meant that the other three were prime pickings for bullies. For once, it wasn’t the five of them all gathered around Trini’s locker - it was just the three of them, with Billy and Jason off checking out some robotics club that Billy wanted to join but was too nervous to go ask about himself. 

It looked like they still thought that Kim was defenceless, that Trini was too small to do anything, and Zack was just one guy. She could understand how Ty and his jock friends, bad as they were at math, would think that they odds were in their favour.

‘Just leave us alone, Ty.’ Kim said, before the boy could even say anything, hoping to save the situation before it got messier than necessary. Her hands were clenched into fists at her side and Trini could see how tense she was, but her voice didn’t waver, shake or crack. Kim was the master of giving off calm and confidence when she needed to. Ty’s expression darkened at her words though. Trini sighed as he opened his mouth. 

Looks like this wasn’t going to go well. 

‘Shut up, Hart.’ Kim rolled her eyes at that, but he wasn’t done. ‘Harper and Amber told me about the shit that your little girlfriend pulled.’ He turned to Trini whilst Kim’s head whipped to her as well, questioningly. ‘Who the fuck do you think you are? You’re nothing.’ He spat, scowling.

‘Well, I’m obviously important enough to get you over here, aren’t I?’ Trini retorted, smug smirk in place as she watched Ty’s expression crack with doubt.

‘All you’re worth for is a beat down.’ He sneered, trying to regain the upper hand in the confrontation. Students began to pay attention to the proceedings, pointing and talking. A couple of them stopped walking to watch it go down, but Trini’s attention was fixed on the group of jocks before her.

‘Look, man, it’s all getting a bit repetitive. Do whatever you’re gonna do and let us all move on.’ She said in a bored voice. Kim snickered beside her, and a little shred of Trini burned with happiness. Zack nodded his head, drawing himself up to his full height to try and indimitate the group of boys. Unfortunately, there was only one of him and at least ten of them - if they knew what he could actually do, thanks to alien superpowers, the amount of them would be irrelevant; they would all run away. But, due to Zordon’s stupid rules, that couldn’t happen. So, Trini guessed that she would just have to deal with them without breaking any of the Ranger 101 rules.

‘You were all intimidating against our friends the other day, but are you still so tough now that me and my boys are here?’ Ty raised an eyebrow, apparently thinking that he was intimidating her, whilst Zack glared at Harper and Amanda, waving smugly from a couple of lockers behind the boys. The rest of their little group had also gathered around, apparently thinking that they were going to see revenge being served to the kid who embarrassed their two plastic leaders. 

That wasn’t exactly what Trini had in mind though. She simply replied, in a deadpan voice, ‘Yup.’

Ty looked taken aback, obviously not expecting her to hold her ground. ‘Are you asking for a beatdown?’ He challenged, his voice full of bravado that sounded slightly shaky

‘You can try, buddy.’ Trini returned, the glint in her eyes daring him to come at her. She felt Zack get ready by her side, knowing that if need be, he would jump in to help. She placed a hand on his arm, trying to show that she had this, that she wasn’t going to let some kid like Ty threaten her, Zordon’s rules about not escalating fights be damned. Kim was stoney faced on the other side of her. 

Ty’s expression wavered, doubt and regret flitting over his features. Eventually: ‘I don’t hit girls.’ Came his lame response. His buddy next to him scoffed. 

‘Come on, man. Just do it.’ Several of his friends echoed the sentiment, egging and urging him on.

Despite that, Ty still shook his head, backing away. The same guy who scoffed made to do the same before whirling around and trying to punch Trini in the face. She simply stepped away, seeing the move coming from a mile away. His fist made contact with the lockers and a loud, sickening crunch sounded. The boy cried out in pain and stumbled away, hand cradled to his chest, having left a small dent in the locker next to Trini’s head. 

‘Anyone else?’ She called out, her tone mild and expectant, knowing that she would probably have to deal with a couple of idiots before the group of them backed away. 

A massive burly guy in a varsity jacket that could barely stretch over his broad back, another one of Ty’s lackeys, came charging at her next. She tripped him and watched as he landed flat on his face. A couple of people in the crowd of students that were gathered cheered - the ones who were the other victims of Ty and his popular posse. Trini could tell that it felt good to see the bullies get beat up for once. The rest of the assembled students though, were obviously cheering for Ty’s boys. But as a third person came at her, only to end up stumbling back after trying to headbutt her, more people began to cheer and clap and jeer at the jocks.

See, she thought smugly as the rest of Ty’s friends backed away, a vicious smirk on her face, audiences and followers were fickle that way. They loved who held the power. Kim and Jason held the power by being the most popular people in the school. They fell from grace, thus turning their followers against them. Ty and the others were stupid to think the same couldn’t happen to them in a fight. 

They should learn that when it came to power, that was kind of her and her friend’s domain.

‘Jason is gonna kill us, you know.’ Kim commented as the three of them walked away. 

‘Yup,’ sighed Trini.

‘And Wall Dad.’ added Zack despondent.

‘Yup.’ Trini repeated.

‘We’re doomed.’ Kim concluded.

‘Yup.’ sighed Trini finally. ‘It was nice serving with you guys.’ She gave them both a mock salute, which they returned, before pulling them into a shadowing corner so they could use their new communicators to update Zordon and Jason.

**\--**

The burger place was pretty full. The only place that was free for them to sit in was a booth that was definitely not made to fit three, well built teenage boys, and two, just as well built, but slightly less wide, teenage girls.

Being a superhero certainly had its drawbacks. Mainly, not fitting into booths, if she was going to be honest. 

The five of them managed to squeeze onto the seats, but it meant that Trini ended up being shoved right against Kim who was by the window. She smiled down at her, making Trini’s heart race and cheeks flush. The neon lights from outside combined with the fluorescent lighting from inside cast her in a sort of ethereal glow. Kim’s eyes shined and gleamed in the light . Trini felt her mouth grow dry and her hands clammy. 

What the fuck was happening?

Zack being Zack tucked into his food the second that it came, as did Billy and Jason. That left Kim and Trini to carry the conversation, talking in low voices. At least until: ‘Is there anything you and Zack want to confess to, by the way?’ Kim glared at the two of them, accusing them with a simple stare 

At the mention of his name, Zack’s head popped up from where it was previously buried in his burger. ‘Huh?’ Trini began shaking her head at him wildly, making swift cutting motions across her throat. ‘No, there isn’t.’ He said slowly, before beginning to stuff his mouth again. She couldn’t keep questioning him if his mouth was full. 

Trini nodded, satisfied, at Zack, but when she turned back to Kim, the other girl was looking at her, unimpressed. ‘Did you seriously yell at Harper and Amanda in the middle of the hallway, like Ty said that you did?’

She decided that adopting a sheepish expression was the best way to go. ‘Look, Kim, I was just defending you. And to be fair, Zack had nothing to do with it.’

‘I can defend myself! I don’t need you to fight my battles for me!’

‘I’m not fighting your battles, I fought my own. It was just about you.’ Kim opened her mouth to protest her argument, but Trini quickly rushed into her next sentence. ‘Are you seriously saying that you wouldn’t do the same thing if it was me they were talking about? Or Billy, or Jason?’

Kim faltered at that, knowing that Trini had caught her there. There was no way that Kim would try and protect her friends if she had the chance. There was a reason that she was a superhero - because she cared about people and wanted to help them, most of all her friends. Trini knew that even if Kim didn’t believe that she was deserving of the mantle, because of some of her more dubious choices, she was a Power Ranger because of the kindness in her heart and the fierce need to protect her loved ones - that was Kim’s defining characteristic, not the mistakes that she had made.

‘It isn’t that I don’t think you can fight for yourself. I know you can. But I want to protect you just as much as you want to protect me and the others. It’s that I was there and I wasn’t going to let them get away with it.’ Trini concluded in a quiet voice.

Kim smiled, placated. ‘Thanks, Trini. I know you have my back.’

‘And I know you have mine.’ Trini grinned at the taller girl, who appeared to think that, just because her smile was blinding, that meant that Kim had an opportune moment to steal her fries. Trini slapped the hand away and glared at the girl. ‘I may love you, but not enough for that. Eat your own damn fries.’

Kim pouted, but Trini didn’t crumble. Not even when Zack caught her eye from across the table and made a face, one that managed to communicate teasing her for being such a sap for Kim. Or when Jason sent her a knowing look that made her heart lurch - she kept her face made of stone and expressionless. 

No one fucked with her fries. Not even Kim.

It took Billy smiling at her with that blinding grin of his to finally make her crack a smile and allow Kim to take a couple of fries. The girl cheered with victory and proclaimed Billy a godsend.

**\--**

Defeating Rita didn’t mean that they stopped training, even though the confirmed immediate threat was over, she had threatened the arrival of more, of mightier, of meaner villains, and that wasn’t something that they could afford to take lightly, even if it was an empty, desperate threat from a defeated maniac. They were the Power Rangers, and this was their responsibility.

Jason had made good on his promise of punishment for calling him out in the group chat. Trini had to feel a little offended that just because Billy was his favourite, he got to sit on the side with the others whilst Jason engaged in an extra fighting session with Trini. 

‘I gotta be honest, Trini,’ he said, panting once she had knocked him to the floor a couple of times, though he had held his own - the bruises littering her body was a testament to that, ‘this wasn’t exactly a punishment. I wanted extra sparring practice and you’re probably the best at it.’ 

Trini blushed and looked at him. ‘You coulda just asked.’ She mumbled under her breath.

Jason grinned. ‘Nah, you would have been embarrassed and the others would have made fun of us. It was easier to do this.’

‘Fair enough.’ Trini shrugged. ‘I don’t mind doing extra sparring practice with you outside of training time though.’

‘Really?’ Jason chuckled. ‘Are you sure you know what you’re offering here, Trini?’

‘Maybe not.’ She responded, screwing up her face in disgust at the thought of extra training. The sessions that they did already do worked them to the bone. But it had to - they held the lives of their friends, their families, and strangers, in their hands.

Zordon made sure that they all knew that the Earth was pretty much constantly at risk of attack and that the fate of the world rested on the Rangers. They had to be ready for anything and that meant that they spent most of their free time training - punching and kicking their way through simulated Putties, dummies, and each other.

Jason clapped his hands, and the other three, sitting on the side and talking, all snapped their heads towards him. ‘Ok, guys,’’ he began, looking around at all of them, ‘Lets run another simulation.’ Kim groaned, pulling herself up and loping over to Trini and collapsing on her dramatically. 

‘Shove off, you’re too sweaty to do this to me.’ Trini grumbled, but made no move to push Kim off of her. 

Eventually, Jason and Billy managed to persuade Zack to get his ass up off the rock that he was sitting on and join in the training. Jason had Alpha-5 set up a simulation of a Putty attack on the town, the little android agreeing with him and saying that they had to improve to the point where they could deal with something like this without their Zords to help them. 

This was a fair enough point, and she knew that had it not been for the Zords, they never would have been able to deal with the Putties during Rita’s attack, let alone the woman herself. But Trini couldn’t help but feel the spike of panic that went through her veins every time she saw the Putties attacking the town, even if she knew it was a simulation - it brought back that same fear that Rita had over her, something that made Trini weak. She couldn’t afford to be weak if she was going to be a Power Ranger - that was unacceptable. Trini was part of a team - that meant that not only was the world relying on her, but her friends were as well. If she wasn’t good enough, they would all suffer. 

Trini felt her breathing grow laboured, her chest heaving and her lungs aching, as she pushed harder, working through the pain and settling into a rhythm of kicks and punches that made her unstoppable. Sweat dripped down her face, and Trini could feel her chest rise and fall quickly and her heartbeat pounding like thunder in her ears but she had never felt so alive as she did.

It was like pure energy was coursing through her veins, pumping through her body, fueling her and powering every punch. She didn’t even need to think about it - her body acted on instinct, moving smoothly like flowing water, attacking but always ready to defend herself.

Trini could sense the other Rangers around her without even trying and it was like every part of her was on fire - in a good way. She was hyper aware of everything and she had never fought so well in her life, the blood pumping through her veins feeling loud and fast.

Her feet and fists collided with Putty after Putty and they are all fell away, crumbling to nothing. The rhythm that she had set seemed to settle as she didn’t even think about her movements, and her body reacted to threats that she didn’t even realise, or hadn’t processed the presence of yet. It was truly remarkable how Ranger senses had improved their fighting.

Eventually, they had taken down all of the Putties, leaving them standing in a sort of circle in the middle of the Pit, chests heaving, soaked with sweat and adrenaline coursing through their veins. The endorphin rush struck Trini and she felt on a high as she looked around at the others, easily able to tell that they were feeling it as well.

Alpha-5 approached them as they began their cooldown for training, wheeling and clicking in a way that Billy seemed to interpret as him being excited, the boy having a greater grasp on what Alpha-5 meant most of the time than the rest of the group did. Honestly, Trini wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to understand the little android - he kinda freaked her out sometimes.

‘Rangers!’ he beeped enthusiastically. They all stopped and looked at him, and the little robot went on to explain, ‘I know that you have all been given this responsibility with little notice so Zordon told me that it would best if I explained some of the parts of being a Ranger to you,’

‘What do we need to know other than we have to kick ass without using our powers for evil or personal gain or revealing our identity?’ Zack asked.

‘Shush,’ muttered Jason, subtly punching him in the arm, before going to say, ‘Great, thanks. What do we need to know?’

‘Well,’ Alpha began, ‘To start with, I should make it clear that now that you all are Power Rangers, you must stay where the Crystal is. Protecting the Zeo Crystal is the top priority of every Ranger so all of you must stay in Angel Grove for as long as you are a Ranger,’

They all nodded at this, understanding why and knowing that there was no point in protesting this, although Trini knew that they were all hoping to escape Angel Grove and she couldn’t help the flare of anger and bitterness that she felt in her chest because of that - mainly on behalf of her friends. Billy was going to apply to MIT, Jason wanted to go anywhere where he wouldn’t have to work with boats or football, Zack just wanted to stay with his mom but needed to move her somewhere with better healthcare, and Kim just wanted out of Angel Grove.

Trini couldn’t deny that she wanted to leave too but she mainly just wanted to leave her parents so she didn’t really care where that meant she had to go. Angel Grove was small but if she stayed here, the reality was that her parents would probably move away again soon enough. 

She couldn’t help but feel sorrow on behalf of her friends who had spent most of their time dreaming of leaving Angel Grove as soon as they could, only now to be forced to spend more time then they would ever want to, just so they can save the ungrateful asses of a town that hated them.

‘And, um, there is one other big thing as well,’ Alpha said, and for once, it sounded like the robot had proper emotions. He sounded almost apprehensive and nervous, which had Billy blinking, unused to having to process something like this coming from Alpha-5. ‘Being a Ranger is more of a commitment than you think. You all might want to sit down for this.’

Confused, they all took a seat on the sandy floor of the Pit, lounging and leaning against the rocky pillars that sprouted from the ground, the edges of sharp stones digging into the soft, bare flesh of Trini’s legs as Alpha explained further.

‘Rangers do a lot of dangerous work. When you all took the Coins, your biology began to change in a way that is unstoppable. Humans are remarkably fragile creatures, but even the most robust of species wouldn’t be biologically suited to be Rangers, at least not straight away. Morphing gives you armour, yes, but that isn’t it. Just being a Power Ranger makes you stronger, faster, better. And you all already know this but I don’t think it is quite clear. Your biology has changed - permanently. You guys will live a lot longer than a normal human would. You will also heal faster and training is more efficient - you guys put muscle on a lot easier. The Coins make you as well suited to this as possible. But it means that you will all live for hundreds, thousands, even millions of years in some cases. ’

Trini felt the rest of the world fade into white noise - she couldn’t focus on anything. Information was going into her ears but nothing was processing. Numbness took over her whole body and she felt like she was holding her breath. How could it when this bomb had just been dropped on her?

She felt her hands begin to sweat and become clammy with anxiety, her heart rate and blood pressure rising. It was like her breath was caught in her throat and she couldn’t get any air in or out. Trini guessed that it was similar for the rest of the Rangers, that they all were shocked but Alpha wasn’t done.

‘Basically, the only way that you can be killed is in battle, if you get fatally wounded. You won’t get ill or die of old age, or in an accident. You don't age anymore either. You will look exactly as you do now when you die as a Ranger - in the armour and everything. Just something that I thought you should know, seeing as I have analysed human behaviour and psychology and have come to the conclusion that such a thing as this is not necessarily good for your mental wellbeing. Please come to Zordon if you have any questions. ’

Silence fell across them before Alpha beeped soberly, almost like he was trying to apologise to the five shocked teenagers before him. He got up and shuffled away, leaving them sitting on the floor.

Trini felt like her world had just been changed, been fucked around with and there was nothing that she could do about it. She was going to outlive her parents, her brothers, her nephews and nieces, everyone in her life was now temporary - everyone except the other four Rangers apparently.

She scrambled to her feet and looked around at the faces of the people that she was going to spend the rest of the life with, the people that she was going to die with, the people that would be the only things that mattered to her until the day that she died because she would have nothing else. Trini could see their reactions, stark on their faces, obvious as they could possibly be:

Jason’s features were contorted with grief and sorrow and pure, raw kind of pain that was unparalleled in the world. Billy’s was much the same, though there was also a quiet kind of acceptance and determinedness in the set of his mouth and brow. 

Kim looked like her heart was broken, like the world had fallen apart around her and she had no idea how to piece it all back together again - like the fragments wouldn’t slot against each other in the same way they had before. 

Zack’s face though, his reaction to it, was the most subdued. He lived in a world where he was always going to end up losing his mother at a young age; it was certain that he had become accustomed to it, though still bitter about. Being immortal just meant that he would have to deal with that pain for longer - he was always going to lose her, whilst the rest of them were just having to entertain that idea seriously now. 

She felt numb, stumbling like she just couldn’t process this information. Everything was muted - the loss she felt, the hurt, the pain, it was all there but like it was blocked or pushed deep inside her and suppressed. Trini felt removed from everything; from the world, from herself, from the people around her - the people she would be around for the rest of her life, for better or for worse.

It was unbelievable, but she appreciated the fact that Alpha actually seemed genuinely sorry about this - like he knew that this was a battle advantage, but for them, it was not a good thing. How could it be? This isn’t what humans were meant for, and more importantly, it wasn’t what they wanted. Sure, some people wanted immortality, but the actual reality of it was awful - seeing everyone around you die and suffer and fade. Just imagining it made Trini feel sick, made her stomach churn and her hands clench into fists.

None of them asked to live forever. And when one of them died - which was inevitable, but apparently less likely than they had thought - that would just make the sting so much worse. Grief tore people apart when they lost someone that they had spent decades with. When the first of them died, it will probably have been far longer than that. Possibly thousands of years.

It had been awful enough when Billy had died - the empty silence that she had felt in the bond, the absence of him, the way that grief and sadness had torn at her. And he was only dead for like an hour, after a week of knowing him. 

Thousands, or millions of years of knowing someone, of being bonded to them in the way that the five of them were, of loving them regardless of the nature of that love - losing someone after all of that would be devastating, so much so that she couldn’t even imagine it. By that point, someone would become like an extension of you, especially with the amount of time that the Rangers would have to spend together daily for thousands of years.

It would mean losing someone that would know every part of you, every quirk, habit, wish, dream, desire, pet peeve. It would be like losing a huge piece of yourself, Trini guessed that it would be like some cutting a massive chunk of your universe and leaving the edges jagged and torn, like losing something that defined you.

And what would happen afterwards? Would they just replace whoever had fallen? How clinical and unfeeling would that be? Trini began to pace as she tried to process the information that had been given to her, to understand what the rest of her life would look like now, to come to terms with the fact that everything that she thought she would be, everything that she had envisioned for herself was gone.

Her lungs still felt constricted and as thoughts raced through her head at a breakneck pace, breathing became even more difficult. She mentally scolded herself as she realised that she was panicking over something that was thousands of years away. She decided that she needed to give herself time to wrap her head around the fact that she was pretty much immortal now before she starting thinking about what might happen years from now.

Then the feeling of numbness faded and was replaced with a cold sense of fury, one that burned all the way through her and made it impossible to just sit down and take this in.

How dare they do this to her? Who were Zordon and Alpha-5 to take everything away from her like this? She was never going to have a normal life, not now that she was fucking immortal, which was all that ever wanted in the first place.

Angrily, Trini stopped dead in her tracks, turned to the stairs and stormed up to them and over to where the robot and Zordon were talking in their home language. The other Rangers scrambled after her, not sure if they wanted to stop her or just watch what was about to happen. Jason opened his mouth to advise her to not do this, but seeing the look on Trini’s face and Kim’s warning hand on his arm, he closed it without saying a word. The Rangers stood behind their friend as she confronted the two advisors, also seething with anger but allowing Trini to champion the cause in front of Zordon.

‘What the fuck,’ Trini said in a quiet even tone but her voice was quivering and shaking uncontrollably with anger, which she tried to control but clenching her fist and pretending not to care wouldn’t fix this one. There was a furious glint in her eye that betrayed exactly how she felt.

‘What are you talking about?’ Zordon boomed, his massive face contorting to look quizzical as if he couldn’t tell why Trini would be so worked up.

‘I am talking about the fact that you made us fucking immortal!’ She yelled, no longer able to control any part of the rage that coursed through her whole body, ‘I get that you don’t want your Rangers to die too easily, but did you never think about the psychological damages? Even if we don’t die, we will never be alright again! We are just teenagers, children, even!’

‘There is no point yelling at me, Yellow Ranger,’ Zordon said in an even tone that was probably intended to calm her but only threw more fuel on the fire. His dismissal was not what she needed, ‘I did not do this to you - the Coins did,’

‘But you never told us, Zordon!’ Trini said desperately, trying to make him understand the gravity of what had happened, ‘This should be something that you make clear before you let someone accept the Coin.’

She was vaguely aware of Zack walking up beside her, noticing the fact that he too was trembling with anger.

‘What is done is done, Trini,’ He said calmly, and if a wall could shrug noncommittally then that was what he did.

‘You’re a fucking face in a wall, who are you to do this to us?’ Zack suddenly yelled, his voice cracking. Trini couldn’t say anything, beginning to curl in on herself and shut down and this was what prompted Jason to move forward and place a hand on Trini’s shoulder, seeing that she was breaking, cracking under what she had been told and the confirmation that she couldn’t do anything about it.

‘I think Trini speaks for us all, Zordon,’ Jason continued for her, his voice grave and his expression serious, steadfast before the previous Red Ranger. Trini saw that way that he held his hands at his sides, clenched into fists that shook with anger and frustration. She was pretty sure that feeling pumping through his veins, hard and fast and unforgivingly, was the only thing stopping him from falling to his knees and collapsing in on himself - she knew that it was for her.

‘You five need to understand, the same thing happened to me and my team. If there was anything that I can do, I would do it, but there isn’t,’

This triggered a small broken sob to burst from Trini, and Kim immediately rushed to comfort her, ushering her away from the wall and back into the Pit, where she could break down privately. She assumed, correctly, that Trini would not want her grief and sorrow to be a display.

It was the way that Zordon was so apathetic and flippant about it - like their lives hadn’t mattered before they became Rangers. As if they were nothing without being part of the team. It was true that saving the world was important but that didn’t mean that their civilian identities were worth any less. Because they were more than just the armour that they wore, surely?

It felt like all that they were made for was fighting, like that was all they would do for the next millennia or whatever, and Trini couldn’t help but hate that fate. This wasn’t their war to fight, this was something that had been practically forced upon them. She had never asked for superpowers and if this was the consequence of having them, then she wished that she had never been standing on that mountain top the night that they found the Coins. There was no way that it was worth it.

And it wasn’t like it was just her who had lost something, although her grief was, selfishly, mainly focused on herself, she was also well aware of the fact that the pain she was feeling was common amongst them all. The others apparently seemed to be handling it better than she was.

All of them would have to watch their families die around, watch their friends fade away and everyone that meant anything to them disappear and there was apparently nothing that they would be able to do about any of it.

Billy would have to lose his mom, just like he lost his dad, and be forced to face his issues every day as it wasn’t like he could leave Angel Grove. Zack was always going to lose his mom but an eternity without someone who meant so much to him was different than a regular lifetime. Jason would watch his little sister day, looking older than he ever would, having lived a life, a real life, unlike him, fated to spend all of his days preparing to save the world instead of enjoying his life like a regular human, the way that he should. Kim was fated to spend an eternity feeling guilty over a mistake that she made, constantly overthinking and questioning whether or not she deserves to be on a team like the Power Rangers.

Trini couldn’t handle it anymore. It was like it all accumulated into a wave that washed over her, a wave of grief and mourning for all the things that they would never have and all the things that they would lose. Blinded by pain, she pushed Kim away, regretting the way that it came across, evident by the hurt expression that played across the other girl’s face, but she couldn’t handle being around people right now, let alone someone that was going through the same thing that she was. Trini just needed to be away from it all have her own space to grieve for the life that she always dreamed for but was now out of her reach.

‘I’m sorry, but, uh, I gotta - I gotta go.’ She managed to choke out, her throat thick and her hands beginning to shake as she backed away from Kim, shaking her head. Kim nodded with an understanding expression on her face, making guilt and sorrow rush through her anew. Trini took that as her cue to finally leave the cave, jumping up through the water until she was standing on a cliff top, having run and leapt across a few chasms as well, shivering from the cold air hitting her soaked form. She was unsure of how far away from the ship she was, as she had been blinded by the pain running through her and had simply been getting away, running away

Away from the others, away from the ship, away from the reminder of what had just happened, Trini felt like she could breathe a little easier. But there was still this weight, an ache in her chest that made drawing air in difficult. She tore at her hair and her chest, trying to calm down and ease this weight, this ache, this suffering but it felt like nothing could stop the world from caving in. Everything was crumbling around her, falling in pieces that she wouldn’t be able to salvage, wouldn’t be able to glue back together into something that was anything like her life before this realisation.

**\--**

Trini tried to breath in the cool air from outside, and calm her racing heart and thoughts, but her hands still shook. It felt good to be outdoors as opposed to inside the ship, full of people and things that reinforced the idea that all she was now was a soldier in a war that wasn’t hers to begin with.

In a moment where everything seemed to reach an unbearable climax, she struck wildly out against the cliff face next to her, punching it as hard as she could if only to release the tension and frustration building up. Now, for a normal person, that would probably just break their hand. But, for Trini, it carved a hole in the cliff face and only left surface wounds on her hand.

Just another fucking reminder of her practical indestructibility now that she was a Ranger. Great.

Although, she couldn’t deny, it felt good to punch something without being morphed for once. The armour was great and everything but there was a certain, fucked up relief in the sight of blood painting her skin in its deep red hue, trickling between her fingers slowly. There was something about that rush of power and pain in her veins that made her feel invincible, made everything feel eternal, because everything was breakable, but she was less so. Trini was made of steel, she was bendable, but she was not nearly as fragile as others around her and that had nothing to do with her being a Ranger. That was because she was Trini and she was a strong fucking person.

The sight of her own blood reminded her that she was vulnerable despite this new found strength, that despite the fact that she was no longer the person she used to be, shreds of human Trini remained within the mask of a hero that she wore now. After all, cracks could be filled in and painted over but that doesn't change the fact that they existed now and what used to be there isn’t anymore.

Despite the fact that she normally tried to run from the person that she used to be, a reminder of that was exactly what she needed at the moment, when she felt like she was losing her grip on the world, this jolted her back.

Trini let out a deep sigh as she took a seat on the cliff ledge, leaning back to rest on the face of the mountain that began to climb behind her. She sat there, legs dangling below as she looked out at the scenery before her, staring down at the town that she had been tasked to protect - that she wanted to protect but there was something that still made her unwilling even after Rita. Bitterness rose in her throat like a bile, like a physical repulsive reaction to the sight of the town, seeing all the people as smaller than they were, another reminder that she would live for so long, they would seem like nothing to her. 

She reluctantly thought back to the attack, to how it all felt, fighting the monsters that were attacking the town, and the sudden feeling of loyalty and protectiveness over a place that she had been for just over a year filled with people that didn’t even like or know her.

Disregarding that feeling, there was nothing like the other rush she felt during the Rita attack, the sudden wash of power that happened when they morphed, when they took down monsters, when they had people looking at up at them with awe clouding their eyes. So, yeah, being a Ranger was great at times, but when you really thought about those glory filled moments, you saw the flaws and fractures that made them so bittersweet for Trini. Those same admiring spectators didn’t know who they were, didn’t know anything about them except for the fact that they saved their lives. And that somehow made them worthy of that look in their eyes.

No one could tell Trini that she deserved or had any right to be a Ranger when she only got that look when she was wearing her armour, the yellow hue like some sort of indicator for a need to be respected and admired. When she was just Trini, the person that she really was, she got belittled and looked down upon. No one who saw the Power Rangers in action and subsequently thought that they were deserving of respect actually thought of the people behind the mask in that way, it was only the armour, the name, the position in the team that they admired. Not the people themselves. Therefore, the ‘respect’ they were given by people who actually supported them was all a sham. It was easy to admire a figure you knew nothing about, and the town knew nothing about the Power Rangers

It was apparent to Trini that if her identity was exposed to the public, fewer people would consider the Yellow Ranger worthy of that glint of admiration in their eyes, because there was no way that they would think that Trini was deserving of it. 

How could they when she herself didn’t?

Although, there were moments, when she was with Kim and there was a heavy weight in the air and an ache in her chest just like there always was when she was with Kim, and Trini could see the same glint of awe and admiration in her eyes as those civilians during the attack and there was the fleeting idea that maybe, this was where she was meant to be. 

But that feeling, that brief moment of belonging when the sunset paints hues of orange and gold and Ranger Pink across Kim’s face, doesn’t take hold the same way that her doubts do, powered by every hit that lands when she doesn’t see it coming, every disapproving look she receives from her mom, every whisper and dirty look sent her way in the halls.

It would be crazy to think that Kim could see any worth in her when no one else seemed to, certainly not her family. She couldn’t expect Kim to return her feelings, though acknowledging that made a piece of Trini die inside.

And despite the fact that she loved the Rangers more than anything in the world and she would lay down her life for any one of them without a second of hesitation, she sometimes doubted that any of them were really cut out to be heroes.

After all, they were all just high school kids, simply teenagers who had been messing around in a restricted area and got rewarded for breaking the rules with superpowers. This had all been an accident, and although it was one that meant that Rita didn’t destroy the entirety of the world, Trini found it hard to believe that this was her destiny, that this was any of their destinies. 

She couldn’t see Billy spending all of his life in Angel Grove when it was so clear that someone like him belonged at MIT or somewhere of the sort, changing and saving the world with his brain instead of his fists. 

She couldn’t see Jason working at the docks for his father with no end in sight, with nothing other than being a Ranger as a relief from being around his overbearing dad all the time. 

She couldn’t see Zack not making a name for himself in some extreme sport or doing parkour or something equally as amazing. 

She couldn’t see Kim not going on to make a massive impact on the world (doing literally anything because she could be amazing at whatever she put her mind to) because she had made a massive impact on Trini. 

She couldn’t connect the people that she believed her friends were meant to become with the Rangers that they were supposed to be. This may be the prophesied destinies for them but that doesn't mean that it was what they wanted from life. To find out that weren’t allowed the dreams that kept them going through Angel Grove was devastating. Yeah, the Power Coins had given them superpowers but they had also imprisoned them in a town that none of them wanted to be in, subjected them to a fate that none of them were meant for, left them without a future in a world that didn’t consider saving the world from alien attacks any sort of credential that you could put on a résumé. 

Was it a source of frustration that she would end up seeing the majority of her peers move on from this town when she and her friends were stuck here for life? Hell yeah, it did. But could she do anything about it? Not really. This was her duty, she was bound to the other four Rangers for the rest of her life, and that was that. 

Plus, ‘being bound together for life,’ was probably going to turn out to be a really long freaking time considering the fact that, as Zordon had mentioned in passing as if it wasn’t a huge fucking deal, being Rangers made them basically immortal unless they died in battle. No getting ill, no dying of old age, for them, it was probably going to be dying together on the battlefield in a couple hundred years or something, still looking like the teenagers that they were when they first found the Coins. 

Trini was still struggling to wrap her head around that, but it was sometimes a comforting thought, knowing that throughout a life of temporary people and places, there were four people would never leave her, even if only because she was one of their immortal teammates who had to defend the world with them. 

It was a strange, unsettling thought though, knowing that you would outlive everyone you know except four people, and that being an absolute certainty. Trini wasn’t ready to think about what kind of life that meant that she would have; she would face that later. Right now, she just wanted to be a teenager while she still could. Although, technically, Trini would basically be a teenager forever. But that’s beside the point. 

And, how could she even know that she was cut out for this job, nerves arising at the prospect of having it forever, whether or not she was suited for it, just having to have faith in a fucking Coin? They had barely managed to defeat Rita and that was pure luck. She had promised that more would come, but would they be prepared enough? It wasn’t like they hadn’t all failed before, even if they beat Rita in the end. 

Trini was reminded of their lack of capability sometimes, like every time that she looked Billy in the eye and remembered seeing him on that dock, soaked through, lifeless and limp; Trini had felt her heart stop in that moment as if she was the one who had died in that murky water. And it wasn’t like she didn’t bear her own, deserved scars. The marks that Rita had left on her were more than just psychological. The deep scratches that she had gouged into her shoulder, just above her shoulder, they weren’t going away anytime soon. Time had passed, and they had already faded into white, slightly raised scars, but something like that didn’t just disappear, especially if this body was immortal. There was something about being marred with a mark of Rita forever that made Trini nervous, that unsettled her

The sound of her phone relentlessly buzzing and dinging was what broke Trini out of the mess on thoughts that were running through her head. At a glance, the messages seemed to just be them wondering where she was and whether or not she was ok. But, though her heart swelled with gratitude, she couldn’t bring herself to muster the energy to reach over and answer them so she let her phone buzz away. Eventually, after a while of Trini contemplating things that she normally tried not to focus on, the other Rangers stumbled out of the chasm, and, after spotting her sitting on the ledge, leapt over to where she was sitting. 

Kim was the first to reach her, dust exploding from where her feet skidded along the cliff surface. ‘Come on, T,’ she said in a soft voice, her hand gentle on Trini’s shoulder, but she barely acknowledged it

The others stood around her as well, Zack being the next person to try and talk to her. ‘Trini, I know you don’t want to hear this, but it’s getting late and you gotta go home or your mom will kill you. We can stay out here if you want but you should know, in case you want to go.’ His voice was rough, the rawness of it making Trini’s chest twinge in pain. 

She pulled herself up from the group, dusting off her jeans, before sighing. ‘The last thing I want to do right now is face my family. But I gotta go home, at least for a bit.’

Zack nodded in understanding, before holding his arms out wide, offering a hug. Despite the fact that she normally wouldn’t, Trini rushed into his arms, clutching tight and burying her face in his warm chest. Billy piped up, his voice also a little scratchy, but a tone of false cheerfulness was in his voice, evidence of him trying to keep it together for the others. 

‘Maybe we should have a bonfire tonight?’ Trini peeled herself away and out of Zack’s arms, although the boy remained with an arm wrapped around her shoulders in comfort. Billy continued, wringing his hands absentmindedly as he did so. ‘I just think that right now we need the support of each other. It’s not like we can go to our parents about this.’

Kim chucked bitterly, her voice clouded with slight resentment as she said, ‘Doesn’t make a difference, my parents aren’t around enough for me to do so.’

Trini shot her a look of comfort, ‘I think that’s a great idea, Billy. But we should probably go home for a while.’

He nodded. Jason stepped forward from his place next to Billy, his red plaid flannel fluttering dramatically in the wind. ‘Alright then. We’ll meet at the camp in a couple of hours. But until then, just be with your families. I think we all need a little time to process this.’

Trini scoffed and nodded - that sounded like her mother. Even though it was a Saturday, she would be expected to at least make an appearance at the house for some part of the day. Her parents seemed to understand that she spent a lot of time out of the house with her friends, but refused to let her pull away any more than she already had. 

Additionally, tomorrow was a Sunday, and she would be expected to attend church as always, so her parents would be reluctant to let her stay out in the evening with the rest of the Rangers to have a bonfire, even if she told them that they were just going to study at Kim’s

Trini could imagine that it would be equally hard for Jason to negotiate staying out during the evening; not to mention the fact that Kim should still be grounded from cutting all of her hair off during detention - though, it wasn’t really like her parents were around much to enforce the punishment. So, when you think about it, it could only work in their favour to go home for a couple of hours and make nice with their parents

But that didn’t mean that it sat well with Trini. After what they had just discovered, she didn’t feel particularly eager to leave the company of the Rangers - the other four brought her more comfort that being around her parents ever could. Though, to be fair, she would have plenty of time to be around them now that she was fucking immortal.

Trini took a deep breath in preparation and nodded. The five of them split up, and she expected to see Kim go off in the other direction to Trini once they were outside the mine gates, as Kim lived at the opposite side of town as her. However, instead of leaving Trini’s side, Kim only stuck close to her, smiling at her softly. 

When Trini looked at her quizzically, Kim explained, ‘My parents aren’t home right now. No point going there to make nice with people who aren’t there to say no,’ 

The other girl looked so much like a poor, kicked and abandoned puppy that Trini’s heart hurt for her. Kim’s parents only ever seemed to be around to berate her, then leaving her to stew in loneliness and bitterness, expecting her to have reformed and repaired her behaviour by the time that they return from whatever business trip they disappeared on. 

‘I’d offer to take you back to my house with me - and believe me, I would much rather have you than be subjected to some lectures from my mom - but it will look slightly suspicious to turn up at home from a day of studying with Kim, to study with Kim, before going out to…. study with Kim for the evening,’ her tone was deadpan and flat, making the taller girl laugh, which to be honest, was Trini’s aim. After seeing her look so sad and rejected by her parents, it was good to see a little happiness, joy and amusement in her expression. Besides, after the news that they all just received, it couldn’t be wrong to want a little relief from the emotional and serious stuff.

‘Can I walk you back, though?’ Kim proposed with a blindingly charming smile, offering her arm to the shorter girl for her to loop her’s through. Trini felt her face flush, heat in her cheeks that could only be an embarrassingly bright blush. She hoped that Kim couldn’t see the extent of her flusteredness in the cover of the late afternoon hue of light - she prayed that the generally pink and gold colour of the sunset would disguise the blush on her cheeks. Heart beating quickly, she took Kim’s arm, and replied, 

‘Of course. Just don’t throw me off a cliff and we’ll be fine.’

Kim scoffed playfully and rolled her eyes at Trini’s teasing remark. ‘Get over it, will you? Gosh, you're such a baby!

‘Did you just say gosh? What are you, 8 years old?’ 

‘Shut the fuck up, Trini.’

‘Well, that was a big leap’

Instead of a reply, there was a resounding smack sound as Kim hit Trini playfully on the arm. It was followed by an indignant cry from the shorter girl, though she hadn’t really hurt her - she knew that she would never do that. 

‘Stop flirting, you two!’ Jason called jokingly from where he and Billy were getting into his fixed up red truck, before driving off with a screech from the tyres. Trini laughed though she subtly glanced at Kim out of the corner of her eye, looking to see if there was any reaction on her face. Other than amusement, she couldn’t see anything, which wasn’t really any help at all for her. Amusement could mean anything, after all.

Trini turned to Kim, and, with her eyes narrowed and a smirk firmly set on her face, said challengingly, ‘Race you to my house?’

Before the other girl could reply, Trini had already taken off down the road, intending to run at full pelt the whole way home if she had to. Kim yelled indignantly and sprinted after the shorter girl, yelling obscenities and playful insults in her direction.

**\--**

The two of them turned on to Trini’s street, both of them having stopped their race when they reached the corner. Kim claimed that she won, but Trini wasn’t going to let her steal her victory. Or at least, she wasn’t, until just as she was about to protest her bold claim of winning, Kim looked at her with a soft smile and a look in her brown eyes that made Trini’s resolve melt.

So, officially, Kim reigned victorious, but Trini knew that she was the real winner, especially when she got Kim to look at her like that. 

Though the race had created laughter and joking between the two of them up until they had turned on to Trini’s street, they had fallen into silence, as they knew their time together for a while would be coming to an end. 

Once they reached Trini’s door, they both paused, not quite wanting to leave each other’s company, though they had seen each other for most of the day and would hopefully be meeting back up at the campsite. 

Hesitantly, Kim took Trini’s hand in her own, and Trini briefly wondered if Kim could hear the way that her heartbeat quickened at that. The look in Kim’s brown eyes was soft and she could see the reluctance for her to leave. Rashly, Trini decided to pull her in for a hug, clenching her eyes tight as Kim couldn’t see her face and the way that her longing was painted across it. 

They broke apart, and even as Trini reached for the handle of the front door, her head stayed turned to face towards Kim, smiling softly as she bid her goodbye for a couple of hours. 

‘See ya later, T.’ Kim said, as the door clicked shut. Trini smiled as she turned around, only to come face to face with her mother. She quickly schooled her expression into one of indifference and boredom - her staple at home. 

However, she knew that wouldn’t be enough to ward off any questions that her mom would want to ask. To be fair, if she wanted to meet the others at the campsite later, she would have to do a little bit of what her mother wanted, even if that meant facing the firing squad. The sacrifices that she made for those idiots she called friends, Trini internally remarked.

‘Trini, I want to talk to you.’ Sure enough, the demand for ‘a talk’ came, and Trini knew what was coming, because it happened almost every time that she crossed paths with her mom. Distantly, she could hear the sounds of her brothers and her father playing in the backyard and yearned to be out there as opposed to facing her mother. 

‘Called it,’ she muttered bitterly under her breath as she began to move to the kitchen.

‘What was that?’ came the immediate sharp reply. 

‘Nothing!’ she quickly deflected, moving past her mother to take a seat in one of the stools at the kitchen counter so that she wouldn’t have to answer the question. ‘So, what do you want to talk to me about?’

Her mom stood on the other side of the counter, across from her, with a serious and heavy expression on her face as she began. ‘We need to have a talk about your friends.’

‘What do you mean?’ she acted oblivious and internally denied the dread began to creep its way up her throat. Trini prayed that this conversation wouldn’t take the route that she thought it may be about to. 

‘They’re criminals, Trini!’

Oh, for fuck’s sake. Was she really going to pull this shit now?

‘Yeah, well, everyone makes mistakes. They’re good people.’ She retorted flatly, although it wasn’t like there was much point in it. Her mother was bound to ‘win’ this argument, because it was always so draining to fight with her mom. No matter what, it wouldn’t change what Trini did, so what was the point?

‘Evidently, not good enough,’ Her mom said wryly. ‘You’re to stop talking to them. Why don’t you make friends with Amanda Sawyer? I’m good friends with her mother, she sounds like a lovely girl!’ 

Trini made a face of disgust at Amanda’s name, sighed in defeat and completely fed up with the conversation and the direction it was heading. She proceeded to leave the room and begin to head up the stairs to her room, not even bothering to continue or conclude the conversation. 

‘Whatever,’ she muttered, throwing the words over her shoulder at her mom. 

‘Trinidad!’ Her mother said sharply, standing up abruptly and making the legs of the chair she was sitting on scrape harshly against the floor. ‘This isn’t over!’ She called after her

‘Whatever,’ she repeated, the door of her bedroom slamming behind her as she disappeared behind it, rolling her eyes. 

Trini collapsed onto her bed with a deep sigh, staring aimlessly up at the newly plastered ceiling of her room, a certain heaviness to her heart that wasn’t there before. Trust her mother to take away any brightness that she had in her especially after such an event as today. She realised that she should probably inform the others of this and thus dutifully pulled her phone out of her back pocket, swiping to open it and then going straight to the messaging app. 

_**‘billy cranston defense squad’ group chat:** _

_**Saturday, 3:26 pm.** _

_**yellow ball of rage:** uhhh guys??_

_**yaboizack:** whats up, t?_

_**yellow ball of rage:** there’s no way i can come out tonight_

_**pink ptero:** what do you mean?!?_

_**yellow ball of rage:** my mom just sat me down and talked about how you're all criminals and i need to stop talking to you_

_**yellow ball of rage:** and this was before i even said anything about camping out tonight_

_**bluebilly:** I mean, she has a point, Trini. The number of detentions that you have attended has increased dramatically since we have all known each other_

_**yellow ball of rage:** don't call me out like this, bill. i have detention because i punched some bullies_

_**yaboizack:** the bullies should be the ones in detention not t!!_

_**bluebilly:** Whilst that is true, she did start the fight_

_**yellow ball of rage:** ok, true. but that doesn’t make you guys bad influences_

_**pink ptero:** we have billy, he’s a good influence if anything_

_**red robin:** as amazing as billy is, he also blew up his lunchbox so that point is debatable_

_**yellow ball of rage:** let him live, jason you monster_

_**yellow ball of rage:** anyway, back to my point. i know it was my idea, but i can’t go to the bonfire tonight. sorry_

_**pink ptero:** are you in your room?_

_**yellow ball of rage:** yes???_

_**yellow ball of rage:** if you are planning something, please don't_

_**pink ptero:** whoops, too late_

_**pink ptero:** oh well_

_**red robin:** is no one gonna comment on the fact that we all immediately accepted we were criminals??_

A couple of seconds after she read the message, there came a knocking sound at the window of Trini’s room. She walked over to the window, confused and curious, doubting that it would be any kind of threat at 5 in the evening with her entire family downstairs.

Kim’s face peered up at her, a mischievous grin in place. Trini felt her breath catch in her chest at the sight of her. She gestured for Trini to open the window and let her climb in.

‘What the hell are you doing, Kim?’ 

‘Listen, I’ve got a plan, ok? The second you said you couldn’t come, I came up with an idea. I texted the others and they agreed.’

‘What’s the idea, then?’

‘Bonfires are special and fun because we are all together, and we all know that a little bit of bonding and unity wouldn’t be too bad right now. All of us are going through tough times in a variety of ways. So we are having group bonding here tonight.’ Kim finished with a proud look on her face. 

‘What the hell! My mom will kill us!’ Trini hissed in panic, waving and flapping her hands and tugging at her hair nervously. 

‘Calm down,’ Kim said in a soothing voice. ‘Your mom may catch us and kill you but we want to be here for you and we know you want to be there for us. That’s what's important. But we can call it off if you want.’

‘No, no.’ Trini decided, smiling a little. ‘This is perfect.’

‘Just admit that I’m your knight in shining armour!’ 

‘If you’re my knight in shining armour,’ She paused for dramatic effect there, missing the way Kim’s cheeks flushed at that in the orange/red glow of the evening light from the window and the soft light of her desk lamp, ‘Does this make me the princess for once?’

‘What do you mean for once?’ 

‘We all know you’re the princess, Kim.’ The other girl scoffed and rolled her eyes, but a smile was in place the whole time, so Trini knew that she wasn’t serious. ‘I’m just saying, I don’t think I fit the bill for a princess.’

‘What do you mean, T?’ 

‘Well for starters, I can’t sing.’ Her blunt tone made Kim laugh. 

‘Just because you aren’t a Disney princess doesn’t mean you can’t be a regular princess.’ 

Trini grinned, countering ’Ok, fine. What about the fact that I’m short and angry? Those aren’t very princess-y qualities.’

‘You’re the best princess that a lowly knight like me could wish for. But I did rescue you from your tower.’ Trini laughed at that, nodding.

‘Fair enough. So what does the brave knight require for his work?’

‘Nothing but the company of a fair maiden like yourself.’ Kim’s smile this time wasn’t so much a grin as a small, sheepish and hopeful ray of light. Trini swallowed hard and smiled back, finding it hard to believe that all the fake flirting that just happened actually paid off in some way? She laughed it off, dismissing it as nothing and missing the way Kim’s smile slipped off her face for a split second. 

There the two of them stayed, in Trini’s room, talking in low voices and laughing until the other three arrive, softly tapping on the window to get their attention. Trini couldn’t help but laugh as they all tumbled into her room in a tangle of limbs, shushing and laughing at each other with a couple of muttered curses every now and then as they tried to get into the room all together.

Eventually, the three boys managed to untangle themselves from each other and dusted themselves off dramatically, Zack grumbling about Jason kicking him in the face, whilst Jason sent Zack a fake glare for stepping on his fingers.

‘You’re all losers.’ Trini said, her voice thick with something that she would refuse to admit was emotion and affection for the people she was lucky enough to call her friends.

‘Aww, Trini loves us!’ Zack cooed, knowing what she meant. She gently hit him on the arm but didn’t bother trying to deny it before pulling them all in for group hug. 

The rest of night proceeded in a similar fashion, the five of them laughing and talking with Trini desperately shushing them every time they got a little too loud. Regardless, Trini’s mom seemed to be done with her shit as she didn’t come up to check on her once so they made the most of it. 

After a while, Billy pulled out his thermoses again, to cheers of them all - though they were far more subdued than last time and no one was hit in the face. 

That night, though alone and unable to sleep, Trini didn’t look at the ceiling with thoughts of Rita running through her head but instead thoughts of the love and affection she had for her team, a happy feeling in her chest despite the revelations that the day had held and a smile on her face. 

She refused to dwell on what Alpha and Zordon had revealed. After all, it looked like they would have years and years together, and Trini would have a long time to muse about their immortality.

**\--**

Monday mornings were Trini’s equivalent of hell. She had all of her least favourite subjects, barely any classes with any of her friends, and Thursdays were just a shit day of the week. Every time, she woke up thinking that it was a Friday, and every time she would be disappointed with the fact that it was just a Thursday and she wasn’t that close to the weekend yet. Plus, this was the one day that her little brothers didn’t have any after-school activities like sport or clubs so her mom would be home when she was back from school to bother her.

She was barely out of the shower, halfway through pulling a clean, soft cotton t-shirt on over her head, when her phone buzzed. Trini ambled over to the bedside drawer and picked it up. There were several notifications, one from the Power Rangers twitter account. She opened the screen and tapped on the twitter app, laughing at the tweet that Billy had made judging from the sign off name. 

__**@OfficialPwrRngrs - Power Rangers**  
does anyone over the age of 10 actually like capn crunch?? - black  
2 hours ago - 209 reblogs 476 likes 

__**@OfficialPwrRngrs - Power Rangers**  
You know it’s my favourite cereal. Stop this, dont try and start drama. - blueberry  
30 mins ago - 529 reblogs 743 likes 

Trini quickly tapped out a reply tweet of her own, laughing to herself. 

__**@OfficialPwrRngrs - Power Rangers**  
you two do remember that we are supposed to use this to make sure that we look good to the public, right? cereal wars aren’t exactly what red had in mind when we created this - y  
now - 14 reblogs 33 likes 

Their twitter account had gained quite a few followers and a fair bit of attention, even being featured on the local news. Most people found it hilarious that a group of superheroes tweeted regularly and argued so much and they had actually gained a couple of fans. 

Her phone buzzed again and she looked back down at it.

__**@OfficialPwrRngrs - Power Rangers**  
listen to yellow. blue, dont listen to black. that’s like a rule - pink  
now - 3 reblogs 28 likes 

__**@katthills - kat**  
Aren’t you supposed to be superheroes  
now 

__**@OfficialPwrRngrs - Power Rangers**  
yeah, why? - y  
now 

__**@rockkkie - rocky**  
Yall just aren’t very serious that’s all  
now 

__**@OfficialPwrRngrs - Power Rangers**  
Why do we have to be serious? - blueberry  
now 

__**@OfficialPwrRngrs - Power Rangers**  
i dont think black has been serious a day in their life - y  
now - 10 retweets 17 likes 

__**@darceyyfinch - darcey finch**  
The mystery of the power rangers continues… we still know nothing specific  
now 

__**@OfficialPwrRngrs - Power Rangers**  
yellow thats such a mood tbh - black  
now - 18 retweets 23 likes 

__**@darceyyfinch - darcey finch**  
They have to be teens tho. Why else would they tweet and stuff?  
now - 20 likes 

Seconds after that last tweet was posted, Trini’s phone dinged with an incoming text from Zack. 

_**’bees’ chat:** _

_**Saturday, 3:26 pm.** _

_**yaboizack:** shit they’re on to us_

_**yellow ball of rage:** just play it cool_

_**yaboizack:** so don’t say anything?_

_**yellow ball of rage:** no that just makes it obvious that they’re right!_

_**yellow ball of rage:** reply like casually. give nothing away_

_**yaboizack:** you fucking do it!_

_**yellow ball of rage:** jesus christ i hate you_

__**@OfficialPwrRngrs - Power Rangers**  
… ;) - y  
now 

__**@darceyyfinch - darcey finch**  
Shit now i don’t know. Fuck.  
now - 20 likes 

Trini laughed with relief.

_**yellow ball of rage:** mission accomplished_

_**yaboizack:** was the winky necessary_

_**yellow ball of rage:** absolutely_

‘Trini!’ She heard her mom yell up the stairs, an impatient tone colouring the words.

‘Coming!’ Trini hollered back. 

_**yellow ball of rage:** i gotta go see you at school_

_**yaboizack:** catch ya later gurl_

_**yellow ball of rage:** not if you pull that shit_

Trini slipped her phone into her jacket pocket, grabbed her bag, and thundered down the stairs. She passed her mom, standing exasperated at the bottom of the stairs, and went straight through the front door. 

She heard her mom call after her, but ignored it. Things between the two of them had been more tense than normal, and whilst Trini knew that part of it was due to her own stubbornness and unwillingness to talk to her mom and forgive her for some of the shit that she had pulled over the years, she also knew that it wasn’t all her fault. 

Trini didn’t place all the blame on anyone. They were all guilty. But knowing that and being willing to make the first move to peace were two very different things. Truthfully, Trini doubted that she would ever have the close relationship with her parents that some kids boasted - and after years of this, she wasn’t sure she wanted a close relationship with them, and she wasn’t sure what kind of person it would make her if they did.

**\--**

Trini was more than exhausted at this point. Honestly, she found it astonishing that she had managed to pull herself out of bed and go to school. She had no idea where she found the energy. But apparently, she was tired enough that, walking into school, she didn’t notice the other person coming towards her.

A form wearing a sleek dark green bomber jacket suddenly collided with her, making all of her books fall out of her arms and tumble to the floor. Too exhausted to send a quip or anything at her, Trini simply glared at the girl with a scowl, disregarding the apologetic expression on her face. 

‘Sorry! I didn’t see you coming! Are you alright?’ she babbled, wringing her hands as Trini bent down to collect her books and files. Trini wanted to roll her eyes at the girl’s earnest tone, but she knew that was mainly due to her tiredness. Mainly. 

Internally, Trini scoffed, it would take more than running into someone to hurt a Power Ranger. But there was good intention behind the question so she looked at the girl in the eye from her pace on the floor and said, ‘No worries, I’m fine.’

The girl visibly relaxed before pasting on a nervous smile. ‘Good. I’m Tommy!’

‘You’re new?’ Trini found that a little suspicious - moving in the middle of the school year to tiny Angel Grove? But then again, Trini had done that several times over the years so she was in no place to judge. 

‘Yeah, we got here yesterday.’

Trin finally finished picking up all her books and stood up, beginning to walk to her class. She wasn’t expecting the girl, Tommy, as she called herself, to follow her, but she trotted after her. 

‘What’s your next class, uh, I’m sorry, I don’t know your name?’ The question obviously meant that Trini had to give the strange girl her name but to be honest, she didn’t really know her and didn’t really want to do so. But despite all that, she sighed and replied,

‘I’m Trini.’

‘Good to meet you! What class do you have first?’ Despite Trini walking quickly, the girl kept up and stayed beside her, much to her annoyance.

‘Bio.’ came the flat, monotone response.

‘Uh, I have Chemistry. Are they near each other?’ After Trini nodded, she continued, ‘Could you, ah, show me where to go? I have Kope.’

‘I have Turner but I can show you to the science rooms.’ She had no idea why she said that. Trini didn’t think that was what she was going to say, but the words were out there now.

‘Thanks! I have no idea where I am going to be honest.’ Tommy sheepishly rubbed at her neck with those words, looking a little bashful. Trini, in a moment of weakness or sympathy or whatever, just rolled her eyes and said, 

‘It’s fine. But you’ll have to find someone from your class to take you to whatever you have after Chem.’

‘Ok!’

Gee, could this girl get any more eager? ‘Just let me drop my bag off in my bio room and then I will take you to Chemistry.’

Trini pushed the door to her classroom open and walked inside, slinging her backpack off of her shoulder and onto her desk at the back of the room. Kim was already at her seat, focusing on her phone. But as soon as she spotted Trini she immediately looked up with a smile that turned her legs to jelly.

‘Hey T!’

‘Hey, Kim,’ she replied a little less brightly. 

‘Did you do the homework?’ Trini looked at Kim with a deadpan look.

‘You know I didn’t.’ She scoffed.

Kim chuckled and reached into her bag, pulling out the worksheet that they had been assigned for homework. She handed it to Trini, and she was surprised to see that Kim had filled it out but put her name on the top.

‘I had time yesterday so I photocopied my blank sheet and filled one out for you as well. No promises that they are all right but I know you need to keep your grade up in this class to keep your mom off your back.’

Trini shot Kim a smile as she gratefully took the homework sheet from her.

‘Thanks so much, Kim. You’re the best.’

The taller girl blushed a little sheepishly at the praise, rubbing at her neck and ducking her head. That was when she clocked the other girl standing in the doorway. 

‘Hey, who’s that?’

Trini looked to where Kim was sneakily pointing and sighed deeply. ‘That’s Tommy. She bumped into me. She’s new and somehow roped me into taking her into her next class.’ Kim’s eyes gleamed with amusement, and Trini scowled as she gently wacked her girlfriend in the arm. ‘Don’t be a dick, that’s Zack’s job.’

‘That’s so true, oh my god. But also, Zordon.’

‘Woah, you’re right. All the people with Z names are assholes’ Trini commented, laughing. Kim grinned brightly, and Trini’s stomach churned with something she decided to ignore. ‘I gotta take Tommy to her class. I’ll be back in a second.’

Kim nodded and went back to her phone, scrolling through something. Trini turned on her heel and walked back out into the hall, where Tommy was waiting.  
‘Who was that?’ Tommy asked once Trini returned to her side. 

‘My friend,’ Trini replied, smiling for the first time at Tommy. The other girl returned it, nodding.

‘You two are cute together,’ she remarked casually, making Trini’s cheeks flush.

‘Uh, we aren’t dating or anything.’

‘Really?’ Tommy seemed genuinely surprised, and something in Trini sparked at that. ‘Sorry, you just seemed -’

‘It’s fine.’ Trini interrupted, trying to make this interaction as painless and impersonal as possible  
Trini dropped her off at her class, returned to Biology and didn’t think about the weird new girl who trotted after her that morning again. 

It seemed an isolated incident, one that she could handle but didn’t really want to happen again. Angel Grove was a small town and there was a distinct possibility that the two of them would run into each other again, but if Tommy stayed out of her life in most regards, Trini would be ok with that. 

So, she didn’t mention the girl to the others when she took her seat at lunch, talking and laughing with her friends. She didn’t mention her in the group chat, or in the Rangers meeting or at all. She simply didn’t think to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies for any occ-ness in the characters and the fic in general
> 
> there is a really long descriptive bit in this chapter that i hate but whatever
> 
> also, just to let you all know, i am currently sitting exams that will last about two weeks. so please, be patient if there wont be an update for a little bit, as i am more focused on studying than on writing this. 
> 
> after these exams, i will be trying to update on a weekly basis. 
> 
> hope you enjoy!
> 
> hmu on tumblr @ unhauntng
> 
> chapter title taken from moose blood's "loome"


	3. your love was foreign to me; it made me think maybe human's not such a bad thing to be

The sky was still dark when Trini awoke with a jolt, but for once it wasn’t from a nightmare. Though it was probably equally as unsettling. There was feeling, churning in her stomach, that made her feel off. There was something wrong; she could sense it.

Sweat ran down her face in rivulets and she clenched the fabric of her sheets in her fists. There was a sudden tearing sound and she came away 

For the rest of the night, she was restless, pacing up and down the room or tossing and turning in her bed, unable to shake the firm feeling that something was off. It set her on edge and stopped her from sleeping, the worrying and stress sending her insane. Her phone vibrating on her bedside table broke Trini out of it, and she grabbed it, the harsh light bright in the darkness of the room. 

_**pink lemonade:  
Tuesday, 3:37 am.** _

_**pink ptero:** i can feel you through the bond. you ok?_

_**pink ptero:** need me to come over?_

_**yellow ball of rage:** if you can. please._

_**pink ptero:** i’m already on my way_

Sure enough, just after Trini’s phone vibrated with the incoming message, the window to her room was pushed up - Trini had kept it unlocked lately, knowing that late night visits from the Rangers (or more specifically, Kim) were likely enough to warrant it. The tousled head of her girlfriend poked into the room comically and Trini felt herself relax, to a degree, merely by the girl’s presence. 

Kim hooked her legs over the ledge and hopped into the room, expertly avoiding the piles of clothes and books around the desk by the window. She had visited the room in the dark of night often enough to know how to manoeuvre and avoid teetering towers of textbooks and paperbacks. The jacket she was wearing was shed on her way to the bed, leaving Kim in just a soft tee and sweatpants. It was obvious that Kim had just left bed to come run and help, but Trini didn’t comment on it as the girl slipped her shoes off. 

Instead, she raised the corner of her duvet, inviting Kim into the comforting warmth of the bed. She slipped gratefully inside, curling up against Trini’s smaller baller quickly. Trini felt like she could breathe all of a sudden, like the mounting pressure within her chest had been let out a bit. Relief made her shoulders sag and her muscles relax, but Kim didn’t comment on the visceral reaction Trini had. Instead, the two of them just shifted closer together. Words were unnecessary but that didn’t stop Trini from murmuring the ‘thank you’ that had been pressing at her lips since Kim offered to come over. 

The other girl simply groaned in acknowledgement, drowsy from the warmth of the bed and the presence of a body by her side. Trini smiled, happy as she could be with the arm of her girlfriend wrapped around her, their legs entangled as well. It was scary, the effect that Kim had on her, but she didn’t care in that moment. Didn’t think of rebuilding the walls to protect her heart that Kim had managed to smash down, that all of their friends had a hand in, to be fair. 

Suddenly, everything didn’t seem so bad. 

\--

There was nothing worse than getting up for school on a morning when you would just rather stay curled up in bed, in the embrace of blissful sleep. This was only enhanced, Trini mused with her eyes still closed, refusing to accept the need to get up, by the presence of a body by your side. Kim hadn’t stirred despite the bright, early morning sunlight streaming through the window into her face. 

Trini allowed herself to enjoy that moment, in her girlfriend's arms and for once, at peace within herself, however briefly for. Kim had obviously spent the night before but there had always been an element of bittersweetness to it. After all, they were nights, and subsequent mornings, when Trini would be pining for someone she considered well out of her reach. The mornings after those nights were always ones where, no matter how far apart they had been when they fell asleep, the two of them would always find their limbs entangled when they awoke. Trini was not unfamiliar with waking up to Kim’s hair in her mouth and smothering her ability to breathe. 

Now, though, Trini could savour it all, appreciate the way that the golden morning light played across Kim’s face, highlighting the bone structure and features that she found a new, deeper appreciation for than before. There was no need for her to stammer and look away, blush colouring her cheeks. Instead, she could smile as she watched Kim gradually awaken. The fact that she could do that, that she didn’t have to be scared to show her affection, made Trini giddy in a way that she never thought she would have the privilege to feel. 

Sunlight warmed Trini’s face, the golden hues mixing with pinks and oranges in the early light. Reluctantly, Trini began to sit up, laughing as Kim burrowed further into the warm covers. The bed was small so the two of them were pressed against each other, warmth emanating from both of their bare skin. 

Kim grumbled as she stirred, ‘I don’t wanna get up.’

‘Me either,’ Trini’s voice was husky with sleep and her girlfriend snuggled further into her arms as she spoke.

‘Let’s skip school.’

‘We can’t.’

‘Says who?’

’The law,’

‘The law aint shit.’

‘You’ll regret that later.’

‘Yeah, I will.’ 

Trini laughed. ‘Come on then. Let’s get up.’

‘Fine.’ The taller girl pouted as she used a lot of effort to extract herself from the bed. Trini laughed and with the light that a new day and the presence of her girlfriend gave her, it felt like she could face whatever was causing the feeling that everything was about to go wrong. 

\--

The feeling of unease stayed with her for a couple of days but was more subdued. But the tense, apprehensive feeling that made her gut churn was only the beginning. 

Trini was in English when she felt her Power Coin begin to heat up - one of the only classes that she didn’t share with any of the other Rangers. ‘What the fuck,’ she mumbled under her breath, sneakily bringing it out of her pocket to check it out. The Coin was glowing softly, the yellow light barely noticeable in the brightly lit room. The light emitted from the middle, where the yellow crystal was, and the metal rim of the Coin was bright red and burning to touch. She shoved it into the front pocket of her backpack, knowing that it could hurt her leg if she had it against her skin.

She then looked around to make sure that the teacher wasn’t paying attention and that no one was looking at her strangely. Trini slipped her phone out of her pocket, the light soft as she unlocked it underneath the table. Only looking at it out of the corner of her eye, and still pretending to pay attention to whatever the teacher was droning on about - something about Shakespeare and imagery - Trini tapped out a message to the Ranger group chat. 

_**‘billy cranston defense squad’ group chat:** _

_**Friday, 1:06 pm.** _

_**yellow ball of rage:** uhhh guys??_

_**captain red:** i take it yours is burning too?_

_**yellow ball of rage:** yep. know why?_

_**pink ptero:** mine is burning too and i dunno why_

_**pink ptero:** think it could mean danger?_

_**captain red:** not a clue. haven’t asked billy yet though_

_**bluebilly:** I have no idea why this is happening._

_**yellow ball of rage:** well, shit_

_**captain red:** yeah, that about sums it out_

_**yellow ball of rage:** any word from zack?_

_**pink ptero:** not to me_

_**red robin:** me neither_

_**bluebilly:** Negative_

_**yellow ball of rage:** well, shit x2 _

Once the school day was over, the five of them met up outside the school in an effort to figure out what the fuck was happening. 

‘Ok, so no one knows what’s going on and why our Power Coins are heated up?’ Jason asked. 

‘Not a clue,’ Kim replied, with Zack nodding in agreement. 

‘I have no idea,’ Billy looked a little sad to admit it

‘Yeah, me neither,’ Trini affirmed. 

‘Ok, so then it looks like our best bet is to go ask Zordon. Fun.’ Jason groaned. 

‘Hey, this could be important,’ Trini said. 

‘And, anyway, Wall Dad isn’t that bad. And you're his favourite!’ Zack offered, a grin on his face. Jason gave him a flat look before sighing and running a hand through his hair. 

‘I guess we’re off to the mine then. Let’s walk until we’re outside of sight of the school and the main neighbourhoods and then we can use our powers to speed up the trip.’

When the rest of the group nodded in agreement, Jason led them off, the five of them walking down the street and trying a little bit too hard to look normal in front of their peers at the school. But no one really noticed them, apart from throwing a few usual teasing remarks as usual, but that didn’t really bother them anymore. 

‘Ugh, when will they grow up?’ Kim screwed up her face in disgust at the other kids at the school, but she didn’t seem too bothered. Trini knew that she still was having issues with them but she seemed alright at the moment, so she wasn’t going to push it. 

‘Probably never,’ Zack replied, although she asked a rhetorical question, not expecting an answer. 

‘Fair enough,’ she laughed.

Eventually, they reached the mines, slipping through the gates and avoiding the mine security, whose patrols were far too easy to predict and get around. They really needed to up their game if they were serious about not letting people into the mines. A couple of signs didn’t really do the trick 

They jumped down into to chasm, diving into the pool of water below. Trini gasped as she came up for air, treading water desperately. She looked around at the others briefly before they all dived deeper, swimming down to the ship. Once they were all lying on the rocky floor, gasping for breath, Jason coughed out, ‘We really need to find a better way to get here,’

‘Agreed,’ groaned Trini as she pushed herself up

They walked through the ship, their feet squelching in their shoes and leaving puddles on the rocky and sandy floor. Once they reached the centre of the ship, the control room or command centre as they had begun to call it, Jason called out for Zordon, his face appearing on the wall with zero warning. 

‘Yes, Rangers?’ he said in that deep, gravelly voice of his, in his strange formal tone. 

‘Our Power Coins started burning today, and we have no idea why or how to stop it,’ Alpha-5 beeped curiously at that, wheeling around them, and blinking up at the Rangers with his strange light-eyes, unsettling Trini. 

‘Hmm,’ Zordon seemed to think about it, and Trini rolled her eyes. It was obvious that he had no idea but he had to keep up the wise and cryptic facade that he had set up for them. They were supposed to look up to him and think that he had all the answers, they were supposed to respect the former Red Ranger, but he wasn’t very good at convincing them most of the time. 

‘Well, it could be for a multitude of reasons.’ He concluded, acting wise and knowledgeable.

‘Any ideas of specific reasons?’ Jason prompted, wanting to get this over with. Every interaction with Zordon was painful. He just wasn’t fun to talk to. 

‘Maybe there is a disturbance in the Morphing Grid,’

‘Meaning what, exactly?’ Trini finally stepped forward, unable to prevent herself from pressing for more information. Kim stepped alongside her to support her, glaring up at Zordon with an accusatory look in her eyes. Billy also piped up:

‘Yeah, uh, what would such a thing involve, and would it be an issue or something that could potentially be good for us?’

‘It depends.’ Trini had to refrain from sighing dramatically at that. 

‘Depends on what?’

‘Well, it depends on what is causing the disturbance. It could be a Ranger. It could be a threat. It’s hard to determine.’

‘So, basically, you don’t know?’ Zack drawled, looking up at Zordon lazily. 

If it was possible for a wall frown then Zordon did. The pin art face looked mildly pissed off, but it wasn’t like he could really do anything to them. All he did was order Alpha-5 around, and even then, that was just an android and Trini was pretty sure that the Rangers could handle him. 

‘Just wait and see what develops, Rangers. Stay vigilant. Whilst you’re here, why don’t you do some training?’

So this was his way of getting back at them, Trini scowled. He couldn’t really order them to do something because he would have no way of enforcing it, but something like training was necessary for them to do, just not right now. 

‘Ok, fine. Come on, guys!’ Jason tried to encourage them, but it was obvious that none of them were really in the mood for training. 

The rest of them made their way down to the Pit, grumbling and groaning under their breath, much to the chagrin of Jason and amusement of Zordon and Alpha-5. 

‘Remember, we must be prepared, Rangers!’ Zordon’s voice was almost smug as he called out after them, and it took all of Trini’s inner strength to not turn around and yell at the bastard. A warning hand on her arm from Jason kept her on course for the Pit, though there was burning fury in her eyes 

‘Asshole,’ she heard Zack mutter under his breath, a snort from Kim following. The rest of them smirked, struggling to constrain laughs at that. 

‘Agreed,’ murmured Jason in reply.

\--

It was undeniable that the constant underlying feeling that they all now shared, that something was coming, that there was a threat on the way and there was nothing they could do, made all the Rangers tense. 

Billy and Jason had tried to reduce conflict by organising movie nights but after Zack snapped at Trini one too many times for her to handle, they stopped spending as much time together in a group of five. 

Of course, Kim and Trini still spent time together, but interactions didn’t feel as natural as they normally did. It was like there was a strain on the connection between them all; it was like there was something stifling or blocking the bond that joined the five of them together. Trini found it much easier to deal with the Rangers on at a time, group hangouts being too much to deal with. Zack and her spent most of their free time at the mine, chilling on the top of abandoned trains or secluded cliffs and letting the fresh feeling of the outside air wash over them, the breeze moving around them in a way that made Trini feel a little less desperate, a little less like she needed to run and escape whatever was coming. 

She could see the way that it helped Zack too. It was a visual, visceral reaction when he felt the freedom of the mine, the calming feeling of the serenity that abandoned trains and lonely cliffs offered. The breeze would rustle through his hair, the black locks windswept and messy, his face tense but relaxing more and more as they sat out there. 

They never said anything. There was no need for the two of them to have a conversation or anything. Occasionally, they would check in with each other, ask how the other was doing, but for the both of them, the mere company of another person by their side as they looked at the town they had been tasked to save, was comfort enough. 

Trini knowledge, guiltily, that in the period that the Ranger bond was strained, she didn’t spend that much time with Jason and Billy. The two of them were normally together, finding comfort in the company of one another, and if she was being honest with herself, the combined company of both of them was a little daunting and overwhelming to think of. Whenever she was around more than one other Ranger, it was like the tense feeling that had settled into her bones and muscles was magnified to the point where it was unbearable. 

So, she left the two of them to each other, occasionally spending an evening with Billy, tinkering with his machines, or an afternoon with Jason in the park, throwing a football around simply for the way that his face relaxed and his spine straightened and for once in his life, Jason didn’t look like he had the entire weight of the world resting on his shoulders. He was just a kid - they all were - and anything that Trini could do to help her friends, no matter how tense the relationship between them all at this point, was worth doing in a heartbeat. 

The whole situation was a bit of a wake-up call for Trini, to be honest. If something as simple as feeling tense could cause something like this - their bond feel stretched and strained - then how much of their friendship was due to the Ranger bond and how much was due to them actually being people that worked together well in a group? Were they a real group of friends that shared interests and dreams and hopes or were they actually just a superhero team that needed each other for battle but didn’t necessarily want or like the rest of the team? Sure, the Power Coins had sort of thrown the five of them together, but Trini had genuinely thought that she found friends. It was hard to wrap her head around the possibility of it all being due to some alien technology that made her emotions less than real.

Kim made it better. She focused Trini in a way that she wasn’t used to. When they were in her room, the curtains drawn, the light dancing through the air and creating intricate shadows, there was nothing that Trini would rather be looking at than Kim. the other girl was like a masterpiece, cogs and pieces fitting together and running seamlessly in a way that they shouldn’t at first glance. Trini supposed that most people were like that, due to the duality of the human race, but she couldn’t help but be fascinated with Kim - all aspects of her. 

The way that her long slender fingers appeared to dance when she moved them, the grace and agility with which she moved, and the quiet strength that both her body and her character had. Trini was enamoured with it all, with all of Kim. When she was Kim, there was no denying the connection that she felt to her, alien bond be damned. It was electric, the feeling running through her veins, thrumming and humming and making her feel alive in a way that she had never been before.  

Trini could also see the way that the apprehensive atmosphere affected her girlfriend. Kim’s shoulders were hunched and tense most days, a physical manifestation of the stress that was haunting them all. Dark bags hung from underneath her eyes, the bruised skin and pale pallor of her normally rich skin was all a sign that exhaustion of the stress was getting to her. Trini felt similarly. The two of them barely slept in the time that this mood surrounded them, nightmares and sleepless nights haunting them alike. 

Eventually, Trini was able to adapt to the way that the bonds that she normally felt in her chest were now strained. Before, the connections that she had with the others were like these things in her chest that she could convince herself that she was actually able to feel. Now it was like those strings in her chest that tied her to her friends were stretched and strained, tearing at the seams. After a while, it became less prominent. The tense feeling didn’t ease and Trini’s shoulders didn’t loosen from stress, but she slept a little more and she smiled a little easier. 

Soon enough, the five of them fell back together in the same way that they had come together in the first place - like it was the natural thing to do once all the dramatics and unwillingness was done with and out of the way. This time, there was no unnecessary stubbornness preventing them from forming, or in this case, renewing, their bond. 

\--

After a period of two weeks, the Rangers were back together, leaning on each other, and with a relationship even stronger than before. It was true, Trini thought when she considered it, surrounded once more by her friends and lights in this dark world, that once something is broken, when it is rebuilt it is always stronger the second time around. 

Billy cried out in frustration as his character was hit with yet another blue shell. On the screen, Yoshi spiralled out of control on the track, several carts speeding past him in the time that it took his character to recover. Trini laughed as he muttered under his breath about blue shells and the unfairness of a game like Mario Kart. He gripped his controller harder and wore a look of determination on his face. Trini leaned back into the comfort offered by the squishy sofa in Billy’s basement/lair. They had managed to convince him that his little lab was the perfect place for a hangout area for them. They helped Billy move in an old sofa and a couple of beanbags and a television into his basement. His machines and inventions were left untouched. 

Since then, the five of them often spent weekends and evenings messing around in their little den, happy to have an area where they could be actual teenagers that wasn’t the bonfire - that was a different type of place, a special area reserved for bonding and spilling secrets. Billy’s basement was somewhere where they could let loose for once. 

Jason and Billy had developed an addiction to Mario Kart thanks to Zack. So, of course, the five of them spent most of their time playing that. The first time that they had tried, Zack had almost set fire to the basement and exploded the tv because he wired the console wrong. After that, they let Billy do it. Then they powered it up, slotted in the disc and got ready for a tournament that the boys were all sure that they would win. 

It only took one race for them all to realise their mistake. 

Kim smashed them all, beating them easily and almost lapping Jason twice, who had previously thought that he would win. The computer couldn’t beat the three boys but no one could come close to Kim. Faced with everyone’s shocked expressions, she had laughed. 

‘It’s not my fault that I rock at this game!’ 

The boys disagreed, and honestly, Trini didn’t blame them. The other girl’s skills were pretty unbelievable. Since that first go, a handicap was imposed on her. She was only allowed to play with one hand, which evened the playing field enough for it to be a fair race. Kim had pouted at first but she still won pretty often so it wasn’t that bad. 

As there were only four controllers, they normally had a tournament that began with a cycle so that everyone sat out once. Then, the two people with the lowest scores over all the races would drop out. Then the last three would race. The loser from that would drop out, leaving the top two to face each other in a final battle, with only one victor. They had all decided, at Zack’s suggestion, to tally up who won the most tournaments each month and at the end of the month, the other four would treat them to a meal as they all went out as a group. Kim was currently winning this mega tournament but Billy was hot on her heels. 

Their tournaments could last hours, and span days due to the accusations of cheating and general messing about that happened. It was impossible for the five of them to simply have a peaceful game of Mario Kart. 

Billy managed to nip into first place again, sneakily overtaking Jason, who let out a wail of betrayal. Kim growled, having been stuck in third for a while. Zack was a mess, having been bombed and banana-ed so many times that he was in like tenth place. The race ended, Billy the victor and happily adding another tally mark to his collection.

That was when there was a crash sound from outside, a scream and the ground began to shake, The five of them looked at each other for a split second before running up the rickety stairs and rushing out the door, deciding to assess the situation before they morphed in public. It didn’t take long for them to realise that they needed to suit up.

Fires burned, people screamed, and amidst all the panic, was the Rangers, trying to calm everyone down and keep the town and the Crystal safe. It was hard to figure out what was actually happening, though that wasn’t due to a lack of trying coming from the heroes. No matter what they did, their opponent was either invisible or was able to exact destruction on the town incredibly sneakily.

Thank god for the comms that seemed to be built into the armour. Well, Trini thought that it was comms but considering the fact that they were superheroes it could well have been a mind/telepathic connection thanks to the Ranger bond. Either way, no matter how she was hearing it, Jason’s stress was evident in his voice, but he also sounded like he was thinking about the task at hand - ever the focused leader. ‘Guys, any idea on how to contain whatever is causing this?’ 

‘What if we could narrow down the areas within which this was happening? The chaos seems to be happening everywhere but if we get in our Zords and surround it, we could corner the source of it!’ Billy piped up. His plan seemed the most viable of anything they could come up with, so the five of them called their Zords.

Trini tensed slightly as she took her place in her Zord, seamlessly connecting to it and grasping the control pods with a tight grip. The machine still felt foreign to her, the way that it was connected to her mind and she barely had to think about controlling was slightly unsettling and overwhelming. The Zord was undeniably useful, and she loved it, but using it felt a bit weird. She was sure that it was just a matter of becoming accustomed to using it. She simply wasn’t used to it. After all, her movements were perfectly natural, they just caused a twinge in her stomach. 

‘I’ll take the top side of town! Up the hill!’ She called, and got an affirmative from the rest of the Rangers, proceeding to bound up to her position in her Zord. She took a deep breath and waited for Jason’s signal. She could see fires and destruction all over the town, small explosions with no cause seeming to happen. They had to get this right

‘You all ready?’ He asked, and she nodded, realising quickly that he couldn’t hear her. 

‘Ready, Jase!’ She confirmed. 

Trini could barely make out Kim flying in her Zord, positioned perpendicular to Trini, with Zack opposite the Pink Ranger. Both Jason and Billy were on the other side of town. Trini breathed out, focusing, and finding herself thankful that Angel Grove was such a small town. It made it much easier to guard. 

She heard Jason take a steadying breath before he cried, ‘Go!’. Trini lurched forward in her Zord, feeling the invisible force bang into her. She kept strong, balancing herself and continuing forward. Her Zord pretty much blocked anyway past, but she covered the ground in front of her with a spray of bullets regardless, knowing that it was important that she didn’t let the unseen enemy slip past her. 

It seemed to work, with the destruction all happening in front of her and not behind her. Trini pushed forward, relentless, getting closer and closer to her advancing teammates. Eventually, they all managed to reach the centre of town, surrounding the enemy on all sides. ‘Stand down!’ Jason’s voice was booming, magnified by his Zord. It was always deeper when he was in ‘Red Ranger Mode’. 

A disembodied voice cackled creepily. Trini felt herself tense. The unhinged tone, maniacal hint to the voice made her think of Rita, no matter how many times she told herself that it couldn’t be the evil Green Ranger. ‘Well, Rangers. I must admit, you figured out a way around my attack pretty quickly. Kudos to you. But it won’t be that easy to get rid of me.’ 

The voice was definitively female, echoing eerily in the silence of the town once the destruction ceased occurring. Sirens sounded in the distance, but the five of them were silent and motionless, poised, ready to pounce the second that anything happened. Eventually, Jason called out, ‘Relax guys. I think that whatever it was is gone.’ 

Trini breathed harshly through her nose, tense and on edge. This was all unsettling, the mystery and creepiness of it all. At least Rita had been straight up insane. Didn’t pretend to be anything she wasn’t and didn’t play any bullshit tricks like this. Trini hopped out of her Zord, the large sabertooth tiger lowering its head to the ground to allow her to exit the machine. 

‘What the hell do we do now?’ Kim’s mask was still up, but her voice was clear as ever. She couldn’t see the expression on her girlfriend’s face, but if it was anything like hers, it was confused as hell. 

‘I don’t know what the fuck we do after that, to be honest.’ Zack said, blunt as ever. ‘Any ideas, Cap’n?’ Jason shook his head, solemn in his mask and armour.

‘Come on. Dismiss your Zords.’ At his words, Trini turned back to her Zord, which had been standing to attention, ready for action, since she had disembarked. She willed it to leave, going back to the mine. It straightened up, the gears and machinery clicking and whirring as it did so. The tiger turned and left, surrounded by the mastodon, t-rex and triceratops Zords. The pterodactyl flew overhead as they traipsed back to the mine. 

The Rangers, however, went back to Billy, to ask Zordon and Alpha-5 what the fuck they should do now. They teleported to a secluded area, morphed out of their armour, before all teleporting to Billy’s basement. Unfortunately, the communicators/teleporters were able to all communicate on a shared frequency with each other and Zordon and Alpha, but they were not able to predict where the other devices would exactly be teleporting that specific Ranger. So, though they were all standing in formation when they left, they landed in one big heap. ‘

After untangling themselves, they all huddled around Jason, who used his communicator to make contact with Zordon and Alpha. 

‘Just sit tight,’ Zordon advised, his voice firm once he heard the full events of the attack. ‘The threat will reveal itself, or herself, again soon enough, and an obvious course of action will present itself.’

Jason looked unhappy with that answer, judging from the disgruntled expression on his face, but there wasn’t anything else to do but what Zordon proposed. If he had any better ideas himself, he would put them forward, but it was hard to do anything about an attack so confusing. 

‘Ok,’ He sighed reluctantly. ‘Thanks, Zordon.’

‘No worries, Red Ranger.’ 

The communicator fell silent and Zack breathed a sigh. ‘Man, I hate just sitting back!’ Kim nodded but looked so exhausted that she didn’t offer anything more. 

‘I know what you mean,’ Jason placated, ‘but we don’t have much of a choice at this point. Let’s all just get home and have a good night’s sleep, yeah?’ 

They all nodded, desperate for at least a nap after the attack. 

\--

A pit of nerves in her stomach that set her on edge and made her hyper-aware. But apparently, it was distracting enough that, walking into school, she didn’t notice the other person coming towards her. A form wearing a sleek dark green bomber jacket suddenly collided with her, making all of her books tumble to the floor. She glared at the girl with a scowl, disregarding the apologetic expression on her face. 

‘Sorry! I didn’t see you coming! Are you alright?’ she babbled, wringing her hands as Trini bent down to collect her books and files

Internally, Trini scoffed, it would take more than running into someone to hurt a Power Ranger. But there was good intention behind the question so she looked at the girl in the eye from her pace on the floor and said, ‘No worries, I’m fine,’

The girl visibly relaxed before pasting on a nervous smile. ‘Good. I’m Tommy!’

‘You’re new?’ Trini admitted that should couldn't help but find that a little suspicious - moving in the middle of the school year to tiny Angel Grove? But then again, Trini had done that several times over the years so she was in no place to judge and it was probably just her irritation and tiredness causing her to form that opinion. The girl deserved the benefit of the doubt.

‘Yeah, we got here yesterday.’

Trini finally finished picking up all her books and stood up, beginning to walk to her class. She wasn’t expecting the girl, Tommy, as she called herself, to follow, but she trotted after her. 

‘What’s your next class, uh, I’m sorry, I don’t know your name?’ The question obviously meant that Trini had to give the strange girl her name but to be honest, she didn’t really know her and didn’t really want to do so. But despite all that, she sighed deeply and replied, albeit flatly,

‘I’m Trini.’

‘Good to meet you! What class do you have first?’ Despite Trini walking quickly, the girl kept up and stayed beside her, much to her annoyance. Tommy’s face seemed stuck in a bright grin and her dark hair framed her olive, round face in waves. She was a little taller than Trini herself, which only served to increase her irritation.

‘Bio.’ came the flat response.

‘Uh, I have Chemistry. Are they near each other?’ After Trini nodded, she continued, ‘Could you, ah, show me where to go? I have Kope.’

‘I have Turner but I can show you to the science rooms.’

‘Thanks! I have no idea where I am going, to be honest.’ Tommy sheepishly rubbed at her neck with those words, looking a little bashful. Trini just rolled her eyes and said, 

‘It’s fine. But you’ll have to find someone from your class to take you to whatever you have after Chem.’

‘Ok!’

Gee, could this girl get any more eager? ‘Just let me drop my bag off in my bio room and then I will take you to Chemistry.’

Trini pushed the door to her classroom open and walked inside, slinging her backpack off of her shoulder and onto her desk at the back of the room. Kim was already in her seat, focusing on her phone. But as soon as she spotted Trini she immediately looked up with a smile that turned her legs to jelly.

‘Hey T!’

‘Hey Princess,’ she replied a little less brightly than her girlfriend, but a smile bloomed and she kissed Kim on the cheek, chuckling at the taller girl’s blush. 

‘Did you do the homework?’ Trini looked at Kim with a deadpan look

‘You know I didn’t.’

Kim chuckled and reached into her bag, rummaging around before pulling out the worksheet that they had been assigned for homework. She handed it to Trini, and she was surprised to see that Kim had filled it out but put her name on the top.

‘I had time yesterday so I photocopied my blank sheet and filled one out for you as well. No promises that they are all right but I know you need to keep your grade up in this class to keep your mom off your back.’

Trini shot Kim a smile as she gratefully took the homework sheet from her.

‘Thanks so much, Kim. You’re the best. And look! You even crumpled it to make it look like it was mine!'

The taller girl laughed and smacked Trini's arm playfully but she also blushed a little sheepishly at the praise and appreciation. That was when she clocked the other girl standing in the doorway. 

‘Hey, who’s that?’

Trini looked to where Kim was sneakily pointing and sighed deeply. ‘That’s Tommy. She bumped into me. She’s new and somehow roped me into taking her into her next class.’ Kim’s eyes gleamed with amusement, and Trini scowled as she gently admonished her girlfriend with a smack to the arm. ‘Don’t be a dick,’

‘I thought the whole point of us is that I don’t have one.’ Kim asked, a smirk pulling at her lips as she tilted her head questioningly. 

‘Fuck you,’ Trini deadpanned

Kim leaned towards her and whispered, voice low and smile wide, ‘You already do.’

Trini smiled despite herself, pressed another brief kiss to Kim’s cheek before turning and walking away. 

‘Who was that?’ Tommy asked once Trini returned to her side. 

‘My girlfriend,’ Trini replied, smiling for the first time at Tommy. The other girl returned it, nodding.

‘You two are cute together,’ she remarked casually, making Trini’s cheeks flush - there was no debate about Kim being her weak spot.

Trini dropped Tommy off at her class, returned to Biology and didn’t think about the weird new girl who trotted after her that morning again. It seemed an isolated incident, one that she could handle but didn’t really want to happen again. Angel Grove was a small town and there was a distinct possibility that the two of them would run into each other again, but if Tommy stayed out of her life in most regards, Trini would be ok with that. 

So, she didn’t mention the girl to the others when she took her seat at lunch, talking and laughing with her friends. She didn’t mention her in the group chat, or in the Rangers meeting or at all. She simply didn’t think to.

At least, Tommy didn’t bear any significance on her life at first. After that parting by the science rooms, Trini couldn’t have predicted the impact on her life that the other girl would actually end up having.

It started in a lunchtime, probably about a week after their first meeting - that being the impromptu guide around the halls that Trini had to end up giving the new girl. The rest of the day was nothing special, perhaps that was why Trini didn’t think that the isolated event would bear any significance or carry any weight - because that was exactly what it was. Isolated. 

Every time that Trini interacted with Tommy, she assumed that it would be for the last time. So, when Tommy slid into an empty seat at their lunch table, the second time that Trini had ever talked to the girl, she could only blink in surprise. The other girl was visibly nervous, and in all other respects, the day and the one before had been good. So, Trini didn’t say anything and neither did anyone else. Billy blanched, Zack looked confused but Kim just laughed it off and Jason continued with the retelling of an anecdote from his Spanish class. 

Tommy laughed along at all the right moments, didn’t draw too much attention to herself and didn’t make the lunchtime awkward. Trini could hardly complain at her presence in fact. So, when the girl joined them again the next day, Trini didn’t say anything, despite the way that she burned to. Having friends was a relatively new reality for her and it was strange to feel the twisting of her gut that came due to an intrusion into that group of friends. The bond that she felt linking her to the four others had been forged in pain, loss and fire. Literally. It wasn’t something easily broken or replicated, so, logically, she knew that there was very little to fear. It was pretty unlikely that Tommy would be able to tear the five of them apart in any way.

But Trini couldn’t deny that there was a certain nervousness that bloomed from her presence. She tolerated it and pushed it to the back of her mind for the sake of the others, not wanting to create unnecessary conflict. After all, it wasn’t long ago that the five of them barely interacted all together. The insecurities that thrived due to an outside presence was unimportant in comparison to the overall wellbeing of the friendship that Trini had undeniably come to rely on. 

‘What do you think of Tommy?’ Kim asked her around a mouthful of doughnut. The sun was low in the sky, the morning light dim due to the winter weather. Krispy Kreme was filled with the lazy buzz of quiet conversations, Saturday morning customers being pretty calm. Detention started soon, but the two of them always valued food and coffee over getting to detention on time. After all, the only thing that the teacher overseeing could do would be to punish them with more detention and the five of them already pretty much had it every week. 

There had been one Friday when they realised that only Jason and Kim had their regular slots with the burnouts and delinquents in the next day's correctional session. Billy, Trini and Zack had managed, unconsciously or not, to lie low enough during the week to not earn any disciplinary action. As a result, the three of them had sneaked off campus for lunch and made sure that they were caught. They could have got away with it easily but that wasn’t the point. The point was to see the look on the other two’s faces when they walked in on Saturday, slinging their bags onto their usual desks and taking out the still blank ‘Better Choices’ booklet. 

‘What do you mean?’ Trini replied, her voice still thick with sleep and tiredness, her beanie pulled low over her head and her eyes hooded with weariness. Jason had been forcing them to do extra practice, a product of the anxiety created by the feeling of unease still lingering since they faced that invisible enemy. Due to that, Trini had been up all night at the ship, practising and working out. She was feeling it now, her muscles sore and crying out every time that she moved. 

‘Well, like, do you think she’s cool or what?’

‘She’s alright.’

Kim snorted. ‘Ever the insightful one, dear Trin.’ 

Trini shot her a sarcastic smile in reply, ‘Don’t you know it, babe.’

She chuckled and shook her head, straightening up in her chair as she glanced at her watch. ‘We gotta go, T. Detention starts soon and I will fucking riot if Colt Wallace tries to steal my seat again.’

Trini nodded and grabbed her to go cup as they left the store, the bell jingling as they pushed their way out. ’Anyway,’ she continued, ‘I don’t mind Tommy. She can hang around as long as she is settling in, I guess, but I don’t know how I feel about her being a permanent fixture. She makes me kinda uneasy.’

Kim looked thoughtful at that. ‘I know exactly what you mean. There’s something about her. I thought I was the only one.’

Trini scoffed. ’No offence, babe, but you are not exactly the most perceptive person on the team. Everyone else noticed that there is something up.’

‘Really?’ Kim looked shocked. Trini chuckled. 

‘Don’t worry about it. As I said, it’s no harm if she sticks around for a bit.’

‘Just not forever,’ Kim finished, nodding her head understandingly. They reached the car and Kim threw the door open in a grand movement. ‘M’lady.’

She looked at her with a deadpan look in her eye. ‘Kim, you’re ridiculous.’

‘But you love it!’ Trini’s insides melted at the presence of Kim’s beaming grin.

‘Yeah, I do,’ She mumbled, quietly, pressing a kiss to Kim’s cheek once the other girl took her seat in the car. Kim smiled and kissed her properly, reaching across the centre panel to wrap her arm around Trini’s shoulders and pull her in closer. 

‘We really gotta go.’ Kim grumbled as she pulled away, straightening herself out and beginning to pull away from the curb. 

Trini just mumbled an incomprehensible response. 

\--

The two of them were not expecting Tommy Oliver to be in detention. Trini had stopped dead and looked at the other girl with a suit, wordlessly questioning her presence. Tommy smiled. ‘I got in trouble for skipping. Guess they’re less lenient here than at my old school.’

‘Guess so.’ Trini grumbled before pulling out her usual chair at her usual desk and sitting in her usual position of having her head on the desk and asleep. There was nothing the teacher could do till detention formally commenced, so for now, she could nap all she liked. 

‘Don’t mind her,’ Kim explained, a bright smile on her face that seemed a little insincere, a little too reminiscent of when she had fooled everyone with fake grins and social pressure. ‘Trini is always grumpy when she’s tired.’ 

‘You could have just left it at Trini is always grumpy.’ Jason pointed out with a smirk. 

Despite her sleeping appearance, Trini was awake and listening to it all and she frowned at that remark. She kicked out, her leg catching Jason’s and he groaned in pain. Kim looked at him, confused, before seeing the murderous look on Trini’s face and laughing. Zack did the same, holding out his hand to Trini. ‘Nice work, T!’ She met his hand with hers, though less enthusiastically. 

‘At least you kicked his good leg.’ remarked Billy. 

‘Well, duh.’ replied Trini. ‘I’m not that much of a dick.’ 

‘Sure,’ scoffed Jason. 

‘Stop trying to start shit, Scott.’ Kim playfully glared at him, causing him to laugh and shake his head. 

‘I’m not!’ 

‘Then apologise to Trini for being mean.’ 

‘What? She kicked me!’ 

‘You were being an asshole.’ Trini growled. Jason looked around, desperate for help, but seeing that he would receive none, he sighed deeply and leaned down so that he was kneeling and below Trini’s level.

‘I sincerely apologise for my actions.’ His face was drawn into a serious expression and he looked earnestly at his friend. 

‘You’re not forgiven.’ Trini sniffed haughtily, her lips pinched. Her eyes, though, contained a sparkle of amusement. Jason’s face portrayed such shock that the five of them burst into laughter, Tommy following hesitantly. 

‘You guys are weird sometimes, you know that, right?’ She remarked, looking around at the tight-knit group of five that seemed to be letting her into their bond. Her tone was curious but not malicious but that didn’t stop Billy from tensing.

‘We’re not that weird.’ He protested slightly, still against being labelled as anything other than normal, used to that being a negative thing. 

‘Yes, we are, Billy. But that’s ok.’ Jason said, his voice containing such sincerity that the laughter faded and the rest of them focused. 

‘Exactly. I wouldn’t want to be any different or with anyone else.’ Kim said, looking around at her friends. 

‘Aww, look at Kim pretending to feel things for anyone except Trini!’ Zack cooed, making Kim glare and smack him. 

‘You bastard!’ His laughter was raucous and he succeeded in bringing a lighter tone back to the group’s conversation.

The teacher walked in, coffee in hand and sheets falling from his grasp. He looked ruffled and the group exchanged mischievous glances. It was always fun when someone like Grinlow was on duty. He never was able to exert a lot of control over the kids in detention and about halfway through he normally gave up on stopping them using their phones or talking. His approach was as long as it didn’t disturb his Netflix watching, he didn’t care. After all, Grinlow wanted to be there even less than they did. 

\--

Trini had to admit: she had been less than trusting of Tommy at first. All of them had been, undoubtedly, but the others had managed to warm up to the girl faster than she did. Trini had still believed that there was something off about the girl, but these days, she had noticed that she had begun letting her guard down with Tommy more often. 

She supposed that this was a good thing - Trini was a better person now, after all, so letting people in was going to have to be part of that. She was glad that she had managed to warm up to the idea of the other girl being a permanent presence in the group because she didn’t want to cause conflict but she also had to listen to her gut feeling. Now that she was beginning to genuinely trust Tommy, things were on even more of an up than they were before. 

The change in her opinion of Tommy had been brought about by actually having a proper conversation with her. Trini had realised that her judgement was based on the feeling that she got from the girl but she had never actually really taken an interest in the other girl. So, one day, as they were let out of class for lunch, Trini grabbed the other girl by the arm and dragged her off, ignoring the weak protests and taking her to the library, where it would be a little more private. Thankfully, Trini’s classroom had been next to Tommy’s, so she had been able to grab the other girl before she found anyone else from the group. 

‘What the hell!’ Tommy ripped her arm out of Trini’s grip, turning accusatorially and ready to fight.

‘Woah, chill the fuck out, Tommy!’ she backed away, frowning. ‘I just wanted to talk to you.’

‘Why the fuck would you drag me like that just to talk?’ Confusion coloured Tommy’s sharp features, her green eyes sparkling with curiosity and unease

‘Because I didn’t want the others to be here?’ she said, like it was obvious. Trini sighed before continuing. ‘Look, I’m aware I’m not the friendliest of people.’ she was interrupted by Tommy scoffing and nodding. ‘Okay, that wasn’t necessary when I’m trying to be nice but whatever. All I wanted to say was despite what I seem to give off, I don’t hate you. I just don’t know you that well. That should change.’ 

Tommy looked a little confused and shocked still but she nodded and sat down at one of the tables scattered around the library floor for studying. ‘Ok. What do you want to know?’ 

‘Tell me about you. And not bullshit stuff. Shit that matters, that makes you the person you are.’ 

Tommy looked at her with a strange expression, making the unease in Trini well up until she nodded and said, ‘Ok, well, I’ve never lived in one place for more than two years.’ 

‘Same.’ Trini said, before frowning slightly. ‘Well, not exactly the same, but my experience is pretty similar.’ Tommy raised an eyebrow at that but didn’t ask Trini to elaborate on that. Instead, the girl continued:

‘Star Trek is my favourite film series.’ 

‘I mean, Star Wars is like ten times better.’ 

She shot Trini a look. ‘I didn’t think you were the sci-fi type.’ 

‘I’ve got two little brothers who love Star Wars. Anyway, I love sci-fi.’ Tommy nodded, looking thoughtful and like she considering something.

‘Uh, well, to be honest, even though I met you in the hallway on my first day, I really actually tried to become friends with you guys because I heard about the shit that you guys did.’

Confusion overtook Trini’s face, betraying the state she felt inside. ‘What do you mean?’ 

‘Well,’ Tommy took a deep breath before continuing, ‘I got bullied a lot at my old school. And the school before that. I knew that the same would happen here. But I met you and then I heard that you and your friends were all pretty badass. That Kim punched a guys tooth out and you took down three football players. That Billy knocked out a bully and Zack was just a fucking insane weirdo. And that no one messed with Jason. I tried to become friends with you all because I thought the association would stop me from being bullied, even if you made me fuck off after a while. I didn’t expect to actually become friends with you guys.’ 

Tommy looked nervous as she waited for a reaction. But even Trini wasn’t expecting her own features to soften and her to say, ‘Ok. If you have an issue with anyone, I’ll sort it. Promise.’

She looked shocked. ‘But you don’t even like me?’ 

‘I already told you, Oliver. I don’t not like you. I just didn’t know you. But that was a smart move - sticking with the kids no one bothers - and I relate to the moving around thing. I’ve got no issue with you.’

Tommy nodded, a little shocked, but her face broke out into a grin soon enough. ‘Can we go eat now?’ 

Trini laughed. ‘Sure. I’m starving anyway.’

‘When aren’t you?’

‘Fair enough.’ 

\--

‘Well, has anything changed?’ Jason asked, his Red Ranger armour shining even in the dim light of the Pit, the five of them cooling down after their training session. Since the addition of Tommy to the group, the chances for uninhibited discussion about Ranger business had diminished in numbers. As great as Tommy was, she still wasn’t a Ranger and they weren’t allowed to reveal their identity to anyone else, so they had to be extra careful now. When they were in the ship or the mines or at the bonfires, that was the only time that they could truly talk freely.

The five of them had decided to not let Tommy in on the bonfires, to keep that certain bonding activity as a Rangers only event. But they readily invited the girl to Billy’s for gaming marathons or hangout sessions, and Tommy’s place in the group solidified each day more and more. 

‘Nothing has changed for me.’ Billy replied to Jason. ‘I still feel uneasy and everything but there has been no presentation of a threat so we have to assume that the enemy we faced is still at large.’

‘Any one else?’ Jason asked. 

‘All I can add is that I think we still all feel the uneasy effects of the attack. Something isn’t quite right. It’s like the balance has shifted or something.’ Zack said, his face serious for once. 

‘Agreed,’ nodded Trini, her visor the only part of her armour not formed. ‘Is there any plan?’

‘Nope!’ Jason said, his cheerful tone laced with a hopeless tone. ‘I have literally no idea how to approach this. How do you defeat an undetectable, invisible enemy? And I don’t like just waiting to be attacked. I wish there was some sort of action we could take!’ 

‘I get you, bro.’ Zack sighed. ‘It makes me anxious.’

‘Exactly!’ Jason pointed at the Black Ranger. ‘This feeling of unease gets worse the more time that passes. Something should have happened yet but I’m glad it hasn’t. We need a plan.’

’So, in summary,’ began Kim, ‘we don’t like that nothing has happened, because its weird, but we also don’t want anything to happen, because that’s bad.’

‘Basically.’ sighed the Red Ranger.

‘Great.’ came Trini’s flat reply. 

‘Rangers!’ Zordon’s voice boomed, interrupting their conversation. ‘I have an idea!’

‘Yeah?’

‘This imbalance you feel. It is because there is one who is upsetting the equilibrium. Everything in the world is created into a neutral state, that it the natural form of all things. Eventually, due to experiences, people either become forces of good or forces of bad.’

Despite his tone suggesting that he had figured everything out, no one really knew what Zordon was talking about.

‘What do you mean?’ Jason asked. Zordon frowned, as if annoyed by the inconvenience of their lack of understanding. 

‘I mean that one who was a force for good has been made a force of bad but there was no force of bad made good. Someone is off their path and I believe that is the enemy we face.’

His cryptic words were little help but at least they were somewhere to start. ‘Ok, so then we are looking for someone who is acting weird and evil?’ Zack asked, once they were walking through the mines away from the ship. 

‘Basically,’ replied Jason, climbing over a protruding ridge in the cliff face. 

‘How are we gonna do that?’ Trini asked. 

‘I have no idea but it’s better than what we walked in with. Don’t forget to stretch and make sure that you sleep well after that session.’ Jason reminded before they all parted ways. 

\--

It was a week or so later and the day had been normal. There was nothing that had caught Trini off guard, nothing to make her think that her world was about to cave in, crumble around her ears. The second that she got home from school, she could tell that something was up. She could clearly hear her parents whispering out of human earshot in the kitchen, but she foolishly paid no heed to them as she ran up to her room. She was thankful for the fact that their conspiring meant that she would be able to escape the Spanish Inquisition today.

Dinner was tenser than normal, not just because of Trini’s unwillingness to divulge every single piece of information about her day but because of her mother’s stiffness. She was used to uncomfortable dinners - and it wasn’t just her fault that she didn’t participate in family events. Trini may not know how to interact with her family but her parents had no idea what do with her either. But this was reaching a new level. The silence was palpable only broken by her brothers’ low talking and the sound of cutlery scraping against plates. 

Her mom asked to talk with her after dinner, sending a warning look to her father that meant that his opinion was welcome in this discussion. Trini immediately felt her heart begin to race with fear. That instinct of panic when it came to her mother normally seemed to be right, and it certainly was that time. Anxiety welled in her chest as she took a seat across from her mother at the kitchen counter. 

‘Trini,’ the words following seemed to be hard for her mom to say, like they were forced out of, as if there was a gun to her head and Trini was the one making her have this conversation instead of being the one accosted. 

‘I was talking to my friend today, at our bi-weekly meet up for coffee, I’m sure I’ve told you about it’ the last part of her sentence was accompanied with a sigh and an accusatory glance, as her mother very well knew that Trini didn’t care about her coffee meet-ups

She waited for her to continue, failing to see the relevance that this had to her but she knew that her mom had to have a reason to make her sit down for what was shaping into a pretty awkward conversation. 

‘She is the mother of a girl in your grade, Amanda Sawyer is her daughter’s name, maybe you know her?’ 

Trini felt her heart began to sink and quicken at the same time, as if her body didn’t know how to react, only that there should be panic. 

‘Anyways, she was telling me that her daughter was having trouble with some kids at school who kept getting her into trouble. I thought that was terrible, and then, something interesting happened. Do you want to tell me anything, Trini?’ 

‘Nope,’ she popped the ‘p’ in the word, faking the casualness with which she was leaning back in her seat with her arms crossed, and her leg up and beat across the other - the height of disrespect in her mother’s eyes. 

Trini could see the way her mother’s lips pursed and thinned when she did that, and the way that her eyes narrowed, but she seemed to sigh and contain the fury. Her mom closed her eyes for a second, obviously trying to keep her composure. When she opened them, there was a cold, detached calm that scared Trini. 

‘She mentioned the names of your friends, Trini. Obviously, I haven’t told anyone who you’re friends with because, let’s face it, this is ridiculous and you will see sense soon and I wanted to save you the embarrassment of everyone knowing. Surely, you can see that they are not good people?’

‘My friends are fine, Mom’ 

‘Well, I find that hard to believe. Anyway, you’ve never really shown your judgement to be good, considering what choices you have made in the past.’

Trini felt her heart drop. Her mouth went dry and she had to force herself to spit the words out when she said, ‘And what choices are you referring to?’

‘I think you know,’ Her mom’s voice was dangerously low, showing how tense she was. 

Trini sat in silence for a couple of seconds, praying that she would make it out of this unscathed; funny how it was when she was up against her mother’s rage that she resorted to God as her mother always wanted her to.

‘I know about you and the Hart girl.’ Trini’s heart stopped and her breath caught in her chest. The world seemed to stop as well and take a breath, but Trini was left in the middle of it all with nowhere to go and a rapidly rising anxiety level. Even as her mom said the words, wearing a stony expression, they just didn’t compute. ‘I want you out of the house. You’re not welcome back until you return to the path God meant you to follow and leave this all behind you.’

Trini could barely hear the words that left her mom’s mouth, it was like she could see everything happening around her but was unable to process it. When she stood and left the room, she did it in silence, absolutely numb and unresponsive. 

‘Do you hear me, Trini? I want you out!’ Her mom questioned, standing up out of her chair as well. But she didn’t even turn around or acknowledge her mother’s words. Her chest was empty and she was running on autopilot when she climbed the stairs. 

Numb, Trini pulled her duffel bag out of the closet, stuffing clothes in it, not really caring what she packed, just as long as it was enough that she could leave. She didn’t know where she would go or what she would do but it was apparent that she was welcome in the house that she never wanted to be in regardless. 

Despite the fact that she had seen this rejection coming and part of her had always yearned to be out from under her parent’s control, this wasn’t how she wanted it to happen. 

It felt like the walls were closing in on her, and she couldn’t handle it. Fear and panic ran through her, making her heartbeat spike, her hands clammy and her mind run through all the disastrous possibilities that could happen.

She slipped silently out of her window as soon as she had grabbed enough stuff and pushed it all into her duffel. Trini landed heavily on the grass underneath her window, the cold air immediately raising goosebumps on her arms but it did nothing to reduce the way that her mind was clouded with shock and hurt.  

It was like everything had lost its colour. The world was reduced to shades of grey and white and black. There was no joy to be seen or taken from anything, or at least that's what it felt like. The streets that she walked down were deserted, just her in the eerie orange light of the street lamps. She found herself at Jason’s house, scaling the side of the wall easily and knocking softly on his window. 

He was inside, at his desk, doing homework, the lamp on his desk illuminating him in a soft orange glow. She rapped on the window softly, and his head snapped towards it. He got up, wincing slightly as he put a lot of weight on his bad knee, and opened the window. Jason then stepped back to allow Trini to clambour in. 

‘Dude, what are you doing here? And why are you crying, are you alright?’ Numbly, Trini touched her face and to her surprise, there were tears. She didn’t know when she started crying or that she had even been doing it at all. 

‘I got kicked out.’ The words didn’t seem to make any sense to either of them. Jason blinked, looking confused, and Trini just felt lifeless. Once the words had left her mouth, it was like her situation became real. Telling Jason meant that this was genuinely something that she had to deal with instead of something she could pretend wasn’t happening - she couldn’t just tell herself that she was out for a midnight walk or something, because now she had to look at that stupid concerned look on Jason’s face and think of something to say. 

Overwhelmed, Trini collapsed in on herself, sitting down on Jason’s bed unsteadily and taking her head in her hands, trying to stop her friend from seeing her cry. 

‘What happened?’ He asked simply, taking a seat next to her, but not making an effort to touch her or anything, which she appreciated. 

‘My mom knows I’m dating Kim.’ Her voice was raw and her throat hurt. 

Jason frowned, confused. ‘But the only people that know are us, and we would never tell anyone, let alone your mom. So how could she have found out?’

Trini shrugged roughly. Jason’s face cleared of confusion, evidently realising that there were more immediate things to worry about, instead, taking on a kind expression. He leaned into her space and looked at her gently and sympathetically. 

‘Do you want me to get some water and ice cream and we can talk about this for as long as you need?’

Trini nodded, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes. He leapt up and disappeared out of the door, with Trini falling apart the second that he was gone. Her life was falling down around her ears and she had no idea how the hell she could keep it together. Her family had decided that she wasn’t worth having around just because she was gay and now she was barely 17 and had nowhere to go. 

The mattress dipped down, taking Jason’s weight along with hers as he sat back down on his bed. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ 

Trini didn’t respond. It seemed like too much, she just couldn’t manage it. Jason didn’t push, perhaps able to sense that she just needed someone to be with her for the moment. The two of them stayed there until the sun had well and truly set, the world plunged into darkness. At one point, Jason’s stepmom tried to come in, obviously not realising that Trini was there. Jason had just said, ‘Please don’t. Just trust me.’

Mrs Scott, the blessing that she was, had just nodded and gently closed the door. Jason breathed out a sigh of relief and Trini got the feeling that if it had been his dad that walked in, things wouldn’t have gone so well. After a while, he told her to take the bed, explaining that he had a spare pillow and sleeping bag in the wardrobe. 

‘No, Jase, I can’t make you do that.’ Trini’s voice was flat, even to her, but she wasn’t going to make her friend sleep on the floor because of her. 

Jason looked at her, a small smile on his face. ‘Don’t be an idiot, T. The last thing you need tonight is a backache.’ He didn’t take no for an answer, and the following day dawned with her sleeping in his bed, and Jason camped out on the floor of his room. He woke up first, the light streaming into his eyes. He turned over and caught a glimpse of Trini, curled up in his bed, and his heart broke. 

She looked so small and sad, even whilst asleep, drowning in the covers surrounding her, eyebrows drawn together in a deep frown that created a little crevice in the area between her eyebrows on her forehead. A canyon that Jason knew was home to so many fears, many of which came true the day before.

Trini blinked awake, her eyes opening, and he hurriedly leapt up and began to bustle about, offering her hot chocolate or coffee or toast, before whirling out of the room without giving her time to answer. She stared after him through the still open door, confused, before shrugging and slipping tiredly out of bed, full of lethargy. It seemed to weigh her down, before she realised the events of the day before as her mind finally woke up, and she felt like collapsing and crying all over again. 

But she decided not to focus on that, and by the time that Jason came back from the kitchen, laden with a tray full of breakfast food, Trini had made the bed, cleared up Jason’s sleeping bag and tidied up some of the room. She needed to do something with her hands to distract her from the fact that her world had collapsed around her, and was in pieces that she had no idea how to fit back together. 

It wasn’t like she thought her mom would be cool with it, but she hadn’t been prepared when it happened, not like Trini had always told herself she was. She had always prided herself on the fact that she cut herself off from her family to spare herself the pain later, but it looked like she had underestimated how much of an influence her mom was still able to make on her. At least, that was judging from the way that her hands shook and her mind was weary. 

Jason sat her down, placing the tray in front of her. There was orange juice, coffee, toast, a bowl of cereal and a breakfast bar. She looked at him, and he smiled weakly. ‘I didn’t know what you wanted.’

She pulled him into a tight hug, and he patted her back reassuringly, whispering that it would all be ok. Tears began to leak from her eyes, falling on to his shirt and she pulled away, wiping her eyes and clearing her throat. ‘Thanks, Jase.’ 

‘Anything for you, T. I’m always here for you.’

Trini smiled down at her food, taking a sip of orange juice that she barely registered the taste of. ‘I don’t know what I’m gonna do, Jason. I’m 17 and I have nowhere to go, no money, nothing.’

Jason placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her dead in the eye. ‘You know you have somewhere to go.’

‘I can’t put that burden on you and your family!’ 

‘Yeah, you can, and I want to help.’

‘You already have.’ Her voice was quiet, and he smiled. Trini sighed, deep and despondent, before continuing. ‘Look, Jason, it’s ok, there are rooms on the ship.’ He looked like he was about to protest but she didn’t give him the chance. ’It’ll be easier to train and everything, and there’s no cost of staying there or anything. Besides, if we are going to be Rangers for thousands of years or whatever, then isn’t it better to focus on that and live in the ship rather than make personal connections that won’t last?’

Jason just looked at her, a sadness in his eyes that made her squirm. He sighed. ‘You can live in the ship, but at least have dinner with me or something most nights.’ 

She nodded and smiled. It was a flat and empty smile, but all the same, it was a smile and Jason couldn’t help but return it. 

\--

The next couple of weeks were hard on all of the Rangers. Trini could see the way that it hurt and frustrated them to see her withdraw in on herself, to see her struggle with opening up again and prefer to keep everyone at arm's length rather than let them help. But she couldn’t help it. 

The rejection from her mother had made her very soul sting with pain and she couldn’t take the pitying looks that Zack gave her or the too gentle touches and words from Kim. Jason treated her normal, except from giving her ‘inspirational leader speeches’ that she neither wanted nor needed. That made it feel like his treatment of her was just him trying too hard to do so. Billy was the only one who didn’t actually change the way that he was with her. He didn’t treat her as if she was suddenly this fragile, breakable thing, or go easy on her in training, or stop pranking her. 

It was like the boy was able to tell that all she needed right now was the space and time to process it all, by herself, and that all he could do in the interim was what he had always done before - be her friend. 

Trini tried to pretend for them, to ease the weight on their shoulders. But it was hard when every smile felt empty, every laugh meaningless, and every joke flat. The emptiness and ache in her chest were hard to deny and even harder to make go away. It was a permanent dull pain, a constant reminder of the fact that she apparently wasn’t worth the love of her parents. For Trini, it was like the world had changed when she wasn’t looking and now she didn’t know where she fits anymore. 

Before it was like she had everything figured out for once but now it was all different. She was underwater and the pressure was overwhelming in her ears, everything was dark and unfamiliar, and when she screamed it came out wrong. That was what it was like, the wake of her parents’ rejection - being underwater and not knowing which way is up or down or where to swim at all. 

But there was one thing that bothered her about it all. How did anyone find out in the first place? Kim and Trini had been careful. They had only gone on dates in private places where they couldn’t be outed. PDA had been nonexistent. The only other people who had known were Zack, Billy and Jason, the three people that she trusted most in the world, that she trusted with her life, and there was also Tommy, who didn’t strike her as the type to do this.

There was no way that anyone could have told her parents about her and Kim, so how the fuck did Amanda Clark’s mom manage to get the information that she gave to Trini’s mother? 

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this was late. i was busy with exams and school work. i will try to stick to a regular updating schedule but no promises, i am afraid.
> 
> hope you enjoyed this chapter! apologies for any occ-ness!
> 
> hmu on tumblr @ unhauntng
> 
> chapter taken from joyce manor's "constant headache"


	4. it feels like all my life i'm running from the same things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> who even knows what a plot is at this point i certainly don't

Trini wasn’t going to deny it - Tommy’s admission that she first became friends with them was out of fear of bullies bothered her. She wanted to find whoever had managed to make Tommy, who was admittedly a pretty badass, tough kid, scared enough to seek out a couple of legitimate criminals. 

It was weird when she thought about it like that - the fact that Jason, Kim and Billy were all literal criminals. It sat strangely in her stomach and left an unpleasant taste in the back of her throat, the acknowledgement of it, further by the fact that Zack and herself were big enough troublemakers to end up in detention every week. Their alter-egos were hailed as heroes but if anyone asked the people of Angel Grove who they were, most would answer that they were trouble-making kids, who made the wrong decisions and got lost down a bad path. If the five of them were actually considering going to go to college and the process of applying, they would have had a hard time getting admissions officers to look past the accounts of mayhem, records of chaos and reports of trouble that all of them had caused in the past year in school.

But, Trini resolved to use the reputation they had apparently earned within the student body for good. After all, they were supposed to be superheroes so it only made sense for them to use their newly given image to help people. That was what made taking down Ty worth more than just protecting herself and Kim, and punching all those other bullies as well. If she had earned the reputation for that along with the detentions that she had been given, Trini may as well put it to good use. 

It only took a short exchange of words with Jason and Zack before the three of them were marching up to the assembled group of Angel Grove High’s current ‘most popular’ with steel in their veins and fire in their eyes. Ty and his lackeys backed away when they caught sight of Trini, much to the amusement of her, Zack and Jason, as well as other students witnessing the proceedings in the hallway. 

‘What the hell do you losers want?’ Ty spat at them like it was some terrible insult - as if Trini had never been called a loser in her life.

‘Is that really the best you could come up with?’ Trini deadpanned. 

Zack smirked, ‘Aw, come on, T. Don’t tease him like that. His brain can’t keep up with it, so it’s just cruel.’ Ty scowled.

‘Anyway,’ Jason said, keeping the two of them on track. ‘We aren’t here to insult you.’

‘What, you’re finally gonna apologise?’

‘For what?’ Trini was genuinely bewildered, raising an eyebrow at Ty. ‘What the fuck do we have to apologise for? As far as I know, you’re the dickhead here.’ 

Ty scowled and flushed, stepping forward and spitting the words maliciously at the three of them. ‘Uh, well, Jason ruined the football team’s chances and you and trailer trash over here were dicks to me and my friends. Apologise.’ Ty crossed his arms, smirking smugly. Oh, how little he knew if he assumed he was the one in control.

Jason frowned and made to step forward. His fists were clenched at his sides and his whole body shook with anger. ‘Woah, chill dude. That’s the last resort option,’ She murmured under her breath, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Jason nodded and stepped back, his eyes fixed on Ty the whole time. ‘That’s right, wimp.’ The other boy spat, accompanied and backed up by his varsity-jacket-wearing, football-playing, bullying cronies. 

‘Fuck you,’ spat Trini, striking him in the stomach swiftly. He double over, choking and spluttering, his friends backing away from him, fear in their eyes. Fire burned through her veins and the words came quickly, though she knew she would probably end up regretting some of them. ’We came over to say that we know how you all bully those you deem less than you. First of all, you are all scum for that so everyone at the school is already better. Second, leave us, our friends and everyone else the fuck alone or we’ll do more than that,’ She gestured to Tommy, still recovering from her hard blow. 

At that, Trini, Zack, and Jason turned and walked away, steel and flint in their eyes, fire in their veins and fists clenched. A nearby teacher yelled, ‘Detention! All four of you!’. Trini barely registered it, just adding it to the mental total of the detentions she owed. 

She held her hand out wordlessly, and felt the satisfying slap of Zack's hand against hers, before holding the other one out and fist bumping Jason. The three of them were feeling pretty happy with themselves, having achieved their missions, gotten Ty in trouble as well, and added another tally to the number of bullies that they had dealt with. 

Considering the fact that they hadn't planned for most of what they had done to the bully population of Angel Grove High, the five of them had managed to do a lot of work in a very short amount of time. There was an edge of vicious pride to her as she walked down the hallway, flanked by the two boys.

\--

It was nigh impossible for any of them to make the mistake of thinking that life was easy for a Ranger, especially not Trini. Not after everything that she had been through. It was almost like it was a requirement for someone to take the superhero mantle that they also had a tragic backstory. The humour to that didn't change the fact that they all had their struggles and that helped them become the compassionate people that were fit to save others. 

They were Rangers because of the hardships they had faced and would face, not despite them, and that was something that Trini took some kind of pride in. It showed that the five of them had the strength to carry on and make something spectacular of themselves despite everything. Despite the drawbacks to being Rangers, there were the plus sides; for instance, the four wonderful people that Trini found herself being friends with. 

Still, it seemed to even be the fate of a hero, to suffer and be denied happiness. Sure, there were times when they felt the weight of responsibility a little less; when it was a little easier for them to breathe; when guilt and fear kept them up for half instead of all night. Though the five of them all had their own shit to deal with, they were there for each other, and that was what counted in the friendship, the partnership, what made them a team, what made them unbreakable in the face of anything. 

To be honest, it was actually pretty surprising when she looked back on what their lives were like a couple of months ago and realised how much they had come to rely on each other. They didn’t want anything to do with each other before, but now, Trini would readily admit that these people were the ones that she felt closest to in the world, that they were her family. Kim, Jason, Billy and Zack had been there for her when she had no one else to lean on, when she needed someone and refused to ask for help, Zack and Jason had always been there to talk to when she needed. Kim stayed with her every night that the darkness was closing and was just too much to deal with; Billy was always willing to let her help him with his tinkering when she wanted to. 

These people would lay down their lives for her and she would do the same for them in a heartbeat. She couldn’t imagine a life without them.  

There was certainly no denying that sometimes there were days that were harder than others, that they all found more difficult to deal with. It was those days, where frustration and anger built up, that they asked Trini to plug her phone into the speakers as they sat around the flickering flames of the bonfire and blast her heavy metal. 

They would look up at the sky, spend a second marvelling at the beauty of it all, the complexity of the universe that they found themselves in, before proceeding to scream their hearts out at it, releasing their frustration at the world, at why it all had to be the way that it was. Because as beautiful and amazing as the universe was, the forces at work that dictate their lives, fate or whatever, were absolute dicks, and though they had all made mistakes, none of them deserved this

These are the sadder nights, the times where they realise that they may be pretty much indestructible but they were not impervious to life - emotionally they were just as fragile and vulnerable as they always were, if not more due to the physiological load of being a Ranger. They were just teenagers, forced to bear more than they should have to, fighting in a war that was not theirs, but one that they had inherited. They were children, playing at being soldiers and now they were realising what it all meant, what the repercussions could have in store for them. 

There were moments when, looking around at her gathered friends, in the silence broken only by crackling flames, Trini acknowledged how much they all really had changed. They seemed physically worn down by the demands that had been placed on their shoulders and not in the same way that they had been before. It was more pronounced, the way that despair made their spines curl over. 

The day that they found they were immortal was one of those days, when everything seemed bad and they needed to release the buildup of tension that was threatening to explode out of them and the only way they knew, other than punching stuff, was screaming together at the sky

Another one was when Zack’s mom got even sicker, her condition worsening for no apparent reason. The doctors couldn’t figure it out and it set Zack back when he had just begun to look a little brighter. 

Zack had spent the entire day by his mom’s side, doing all that he could to help her. Eventually, he realised that he needed someone there with him, that he couldn’t deal with it by himself, so he texted Trini, and she rushed to the trailer park.

By the time that she got there, he was still sitting with his mom but his hands were shaking and his eyes were glistening with tears that he was too afraid to shed. She gathered him in her arms, and that was when Zack began to fall apart, trusting Trini to be there to help piece him back together 

Sobs racked his body as his hands clutched at the material of her shirt, trying to find some way to ground himself. He clung to Trini like a drowning man does to a piece of wreckage - desperately - and his hands shook, his knuckles white from gripping so hard. Trini didn’t know how else to help him other than to let him break down, to let him feel this debilitating sorrow. 

That night, they had another one of their bonding bonfires, and none of them commented on how the mood was so low, how none of them seemed very enthusiastic, because Zack had asked for this, he needed this support, the gathering of his friends to help him remember that though he may be about to lose a big part of his life, he still had them. 

In a low, quiet voice that was hoarse, he turned to Trini and asked, ‘Can you play your screaming?’ 

She nodded and reached for the old, beat-up speaker that Jason had donated to the campsite, the one that they normally just left by the logs, even when they weren’t there. No one else came to the mines and even if they did, the likelihood of them finding their mountain and stealing their speaker was pretty small. 

So she hooked her phone up and pressed play, and she would do anything to keep in place the satisfied smile that was on Zack’s face - it felt wrong to see him sad and she was willing to do almost anything to keep him the happy guy that she always knew. 

The heavy guitars and loud screaming seemed to put him at ease somehow, so Trini was happy to play her music for as long as he needed. All of them shared in the grief he felt, not pretending to know how he felt, but helping him through it by being with him and letting him know that it was ok to lean on them, to rely on them, to let them help. 

It was a good thing that there was no one around the campsite area because they really blasted that music, letting the beat, the guitars, the drums wash over Zack and take him away, letting him focus on something other than the thought of his mom and what could follow this development in her condition. 

None of them went home that evening, Trini knowing that she would spend the night with Zack the second that he texted her. Even if he hadn’t wanted her to, she would have either insisted or pretended to go home and actually waited around his house to be there if he needed. 

But it was somehow easier for the group to convince Zack to let them help. He wasn’t exactly someone who liked letting people in but the four of them managed to convince him to spend the night with them at the campsite. They reasoned that he had spent the whole day by his mom’s side and that he needed a little bit of time to himself. However, because they knew that otherwise, the boy would just worry all night, the four other Rangers devised a plan to check up on Zack’s mom at intervals throughout the night, almost like a rota, switching out on guarding Zack’s mom, though this was no monster that they could fight. Inevitability was a crueller villain than Rita could ever hope to be. 

Trini wished that there was more that she could do. She wasn’t the type who was good at comforting people. She never knew the words to say, the actions to take. If anyone needed anything punching, Trini was your girl. But this, this was abstract, something that she couldn’t tackle physically, take down with her fists. There was no way for her to help her friend make this go away, all she could do was support him and be there for him when he needed her. But she couldn’t help but feel like that wasn’t enough, that after the amazing friend that Zack had been to her in the time that she had known him, he deserved better from her than simply being a pillar to lean on, a shoulder to cry on. 

It didn’t matter that she was dealing with her own issues, that she spent every night in a cold room on the ship that was unfamiliar and empty in a way that wasn’t too different to the many bedrooms she had lived in during the years. But at least in those rooms, she could pretend that it was hers, that she had somewhere to belong. The ship was cold and impersonal - meant for military use more than a home. None of that meant anything anymore because Zack was hurting and that took priority. 

She sat, watching the sunrise and her friends, seeing that Zack was sleeping peacefully right then, though he had been tossing and turning all night, subject to a restless sleep when that was the last thing that he needed. He looked so calm but Trini knew that he was really anything but.

There was no way that he could be.

They were quite a group, Trini mused. Kim barely ever saw her parents, Trini had been kicked out, Jason’s dad was still being a dick to him, Zack’s mom was dying, and all of them were dealing with PTSD, most of Billy. But they had each other, and in a way, that was all they needed.

\--

Whilst the Rangers were concerned with Zack, there was something sinister happening, something that they weren’t even aware of. The streets of Angel Grove were silent and dead, the glowing streetlights illuminating the worn, chipped sidewalk in pools of harsh orange. Tommy’s beat up converse seemed louder in her ears than even her pumping heart, the aglets of her shoelaces thumping against the pavement beneath her feet with every step. The hood pulled over her head muffled the sound coming into her ears so she kept looking around, checking for anyone who could be able to see her, even under the cover of the foggy night. 

She took a seat on the first bench that she found, a solitary feature of an otherwise plain street. The mist and darkness seemed to swirl around her but despite the cold temperatures of the night and the clammy air, Tommy finally felt able to breathe. In the cover of darkness, without the pressure of people surrounding her at all times, pushing her in hallways or yelling around her, the weight on her chest seemed to lift enough for her to clear her head. 

After all, that was the purpose of her midnight trip. There was always clarity to be found in shadowed loneliness. It forced her to address what her subconscious was actually trying to tell her, the message that got lost in the stress and pressure of everyday life. The issues that drove her out her were anything but ordinary. With only the streetlight’s harsh orange to illuminate her, she drew the disc of gold and green out of her pocket, the mysterious gift that had granted her superpowers. Tommy looked at it with fear and awe in her expression. The green seemed to overtake her eyes, all traces of her natural eye colour being drowned out. 

There was nothing good to be found in such wonder for a gift from Rita Repulsa.

\--

Her heart stuttered in her chest as Trini watched Kim’s tongue dart out and catch the droplet of melting ice cream about to fall from her cone. Her cheeks flooded with a deep blush that Kim caught sight of and promptly laughed at teasingly. ‘Shut up!’ Trini mumbled, wacking the other girl’s knee protestingly. 

‘Ok, ok, ok, I’m sorry for laughing at you,’ She pretended to adopt a serious expression, but Trini could see the mirth dancing and sparkling in her eyes all the same.  

It was hard to stop the smile from spreading across her face as well though. The lightness in her heart was infectious in the best way, spreading throughout her whole self. That was what always happened when she was around Kim. The other girl just had that effect on her. It was unexplainable in the best kind of way, in the way that made Trini just accept that Kim was simply a good influence by nature. 

Kim grinned at her, a spot of ice cream on her cheek. Trini smiled back, blushing slightly. ‘You, uh, have something on your cheek.’ She gestured vaguely at where the ice cream was on her own face, but the other girl kept missing as she tried to wipe it away. Eventually, she sighed and leaned in herself, resting her hand against Kim’s warm cheek. Trini focused on the spot of white ice cream, melting rapidly against the warmth of the girl’s skin and used the flat of her thumb to gently wipe away the offending drop. Kim’s soft brown eyes bore into hers and she leaned in closer, till she could feel the taller girl’s breath ghost over her skin, causing goosebumps to erupt on her skin. 

Finally, Trini leaned in enough to close the slim gap between the two of them, pressing their lips together. Automatically, Trini’s eyes slipped closed, her heart beginning to pound excitedly in her chest. Kim’s hand tangled gently in her hair as they kissed until they broke tentatively apart. Trini breathed a quiet content sigh, struck with happiness, swelling and rising in her chest. The smile spreading out across her face was impossible to suppress and she didn’t think that she wanted to anyway

\--

The silence that lay between them was something that she wasn't used to. It hung, tense and taut, unbroken for far too long. the longer that it lasted, the greater the pressure on her chest seemed to grow. Trini squirmed, uncomfortable but unsure of how to fix the situation. 

Kim hadn't spoken to her all day, and though Trini still went over for their scheduled study date, the silence remained, icy and unforgiving. Originally, she had believed that Kim was simply having a bad day - until she saw the other girl chatting happily with Jason and Billy. She clammed up as soon as Trini approached. 

Honestly, it was beginning to grate on her nerves. As far as Trini knew, this was entirely undeserved though there must be some reason for the cold shoulder she was receiving. If she could fix it, she would but it was hard to when she had no idea what she had done so grievously wrong. 

Trini sighed and ran a hand roughly through her hair. She had had enough. Abruptly, she stood up, scraping away the desk chair that she had been borrowing to work on her English homework. ‘What the hell is up, Kim?’

‘What do you mean?’ Her reply was flat and emotionless, though there was a tense underlying tone that set Trini on edge

Anger flared in her chest, bubbling and burning in a way that she wasn’t used to. Though what she was feeling was very similar, Trini had never associated it with Kim before. A bitter taste lingered on her tongue and she felt cold fury burn through her. ‘You know exactly what I mean.’ She spat the words and though she was heard, Trini already felt that she was going to regret this. 

Kim leapt to her feet, disbelief and outrage contorting her features into a scowl. ‘You got a lotta nerve, Trini.’ The words were spat, pointed and each one venomous. ‘You refuse to have a fucking conversation about anything that bothers you, no matter how much we all try, but you call me out?’ She scoffed. ‘Fuck you.’ 

Trini felt herself recoil and the words being flung at her before anger and frustration coloured her vision red. ‘You are pissed because I don’t communicate? What the fuck about just giving me time? How can I talk about how I feel if I don’t know how I feel?!’ 

‘Just let me help you, for fuck’s sake!’ 

‘I don’t want your help!’ As soon as the words fell from her lips, Trini wanted to stuff them back in and make Kim forget that they were ever said. The way that the other girl’s face fell with utter despair sent a sick feeling into her stomach and Trini never hated herself more than she did in that moment. No matter the level of anger she felt, no matter the amount of fury and frustration coursing through her veins, she never wanted to see Kim hurt, let alone at her own hand. It was absolutely devastating and Trini felt herself deflate. 

‘Y’know, maybe I’m not sure about how I feel either.’ Came Kim’s next words, spoken quietly. Trini wanted to burst, the regret and anxiety bubbling inside of her, but she stayed deadly silent. ‘I thought I knew how I felt, but maybe you aren’t who I thought you were.’ Kim didn’t say them aggressively, nor did she spit them at Trini like their earlier words were - this wasn’t an attack, this was an admission, a confession that, though whispered, was caught by Trini all the same. They stood their, silent, with the air between them tense and taut, the quiet seeming deafening in the dark room. In fact, it was so silent, that Trini didn’t understand how Kim couldn’t hear the sound of her heart shattering, breaking into pieces that couldn’t be put back together. 

For the sake of self-preservation, Trini hoarsely replied, ‘Yeah, maybe I’m not, but neither are you.’ before whirling out of the room, not letting Kim say another word. It felt like someone had cut a hole in her chest and the pain was sharp, needling and unyielding. Trini stormed out of the house, the door slamming behind her. She ran down the street, her bag bouncing wildly on her back, and even as Trini’s reasonable side told her to go back and sort it out and apologise, she didn’t do any of that. Instead, she walked through shadowy, empty roads with only her thought and the yearning pain in her chest for company till the rain began to fall, soaking through her clothes and making her teeth chatter, the chill seeping into her bones. The ship seemed cold and empty and lonely as ever as she returned, her footsteps echoing in the silent structure. Her scowl and heartbreak were not lessened, despite Alpha’s friendly beeps of greeting. 

‘Hey, Alpha.’ She sighed as she walked to her room, the android wheeling after her, Trini flung her sodden bag to rest on the bunk opposite hers. She shook off her jacket and slid out her shoes, eventually coming to a rat as she flopped on to her bed, a miserable expression on her face. 

‘What’s wrong, Master Trini?’ Alpha asked, the programmed-in friendly disposition not doing anything to help in the moment. 

‘Nothing. I just… miss the way things used to be.’ 

The small android beeped wildly, scooting all over the place. ‘You wish not to be a Ranger?!’

’No, no, no!’ Trini exclaimed, jumping to her feet and trying to placate Alpha, waving her hands panicking. ‘I love being a Ranger!’ Alpha appeared to calm so she sat back down heavily on the edge of her bed and sighed. ‘I just… Everything is different compared to after we beat Rita. Then, I was happy, I had my parents, I had my friends and there was nothing wrong with life. Now, I’ve been kicked out and I haven’t seen my brothers since. I can’t talk about it with the others because it’s just so shameful. I’m a fucking Power Ranger, I should be able to handle thins. We’re supposed to be strong and the others are but I’m a mess and I hate it.’ She cast a look at Alpha before sighing again. ‘And you’re just a little android who doesn’t need me complaining. I’m sorry, Alpha.’ 

‘Don’t worry, Master Trini. Everything will be alright.’ 

‘Will it?’ she asked doubtfully, raising her eyebrows

‘I don’t know. Emotions are an incurable complicated thing for me to understand but from my analysis and research, your kind seems to be comforted by that series of words.’ 

Trini chuckled despite herself. ‘Thanks, Alpha.’ 

‘Goodnight, Master Trini.’ 

‘Goodnight.’ 

Alpha wheeled away cheerfully, or as cheerful as an android can be, and left Trini alone to the glum of her empty room and her thoughts and the never-ending, heart wrenching pain in her chest with the knowledge that she might have gone and lost one of the only things in her life that were getting her through the days. Bitterly she thought about what Kim had said. It was right in a way. Even Trini could see that she wasn’t actually the person that she tried to project, the put together, silent, independent person that she tried to be. She had let the Rangers in, sure, but Trini had never shown anyone the real way that she was, preferring to keep herself hidden with walls and defences stopping anyone from getting too close. 

Trini wasn’t the person Kim thought that she was, and neither was Kim. They all tried to show better versions of themselves to others, out of insecurity and self-doubt. She could only hope that this was only a bumpy stretch of road in the path of their relationship, that this lead to a more mature love between them. After all, now Trini recognised that love wasn’t about thinking the other person was perfect, as she had tried to make sure Kim did think of her that way. Instead, it was about recognising someone’s faults and still loving them absolutely, regardless and because of such ‘imperfections’ 

She already knew that she felt that way about Kim, though it would be a matter of coaching her brain and heart into not thinking that Kim was perfect. Now, it was only a question of whether or not Kim loved her that same way. And that was what troubled Trini. 

 

\--

‘Ok, guys, let’s try again,’ Jason called, his voice heavy with weariness and full of false enthusiasm. The rest of them groaned. They had been trying to perfect their developing skills of telepathy for hours but there had been very little progress. In fact, Trini could almost say that there had been no progress whatsoever. She was beginning to doubt the validity of Zordon’s claims of their emerging powers. There was no way that could be the case but they could still be so bad at this. 

Trini sighed deeply. The five of were standing in the middle of the Pit, unmorphed and unarmed. They were facing each other in a circle, kind of like they were standing on the morphing grid. Instead, they were surrounded by damp rocks and dripping water. Alpha-5 stood on a row of boulders a little bit away from them, beeping encouragingly and keeping Zordon up to speed with their lack of progress. 

There was an edge of desperation to Trini that she hadn’t expected to feel, forcing herself to take deep breaths and relax. If she was being honest, Trini probably hadn't been devoting as much time as she should have to searching for whoever the 'good gone bad' person was. Considering the fact that she had been kicked out by her mom, that was kind of detracting from her focus. But now, she was anxious due to Ranger stuff and not family stuff, and she could tell that the others felt the same kind of tension fill their own bodies. She knew that it was probably because of the fact that it had been a little while since any sort of activity from the invisible foe that they had faced - or at least as far as they knew. It had been a week and a half, and there had been no word of any sort of chaos in Angel Grove. To be honest, all of them had been slightly on edge. 

However, even as her eyes met with Kim’s, Trini recognised that there was probably another reason that she was feeling tense. She averted her eyes immediately and felt heat rush through her body. No matter how much she wanted this stupid conflict to be over, Trini wasn’t ready to hear it at the moment. She was ashamed to admit that every time that Kim approached her, she found the quickest way to escape and took it, unwilling to get back into the argument. Truthfully, Trini thought that she needed space, something that was hard to get when your girlfriend was the person that you spent most of your time with, alone or with friends, and especially when there was an alien bond between you that glued you together. 

Kim was persistent enough to make avoiding her both physically hard and mentally hard. The girl didn't give up and it made Trini feel terrible to keep evading her when she was trying so hard to talk. Admittedly, Trini was bad at communicating, she was better at internalising things and dealing with them herself. She didn't want to have any sort of conversation that she hadn't planned for in advance or one that she went into confused and in the same kind of emotional turmoil as she had been lately. So, though she understood Kim's point of view, Trini still felt that she was right in not talking about everything that had happened.

Of course, however, Kim didn’t know that because Trini couldn’t find a way to work up the courage to talk to her. 

Perhaps her internal conflict, her current problems, was causing this struggle that they were all feeling. After all, they couldn’t morph at first because their bond wasn’t strong enough. So, maybe they couldn’t use their abilities now because there was an issue with the bond. 

‘I think we need to take a break.’ Kim huffed, glowering slightly at Trini as she said the words. Trini averted her eyes quickly, her cheeks flushing with shame and embarrassment. She needed to talk to Kim before this tension between the two of them, and by extension between the rest of the Rangers, got out of control. Zack sent her a sympathetic look, being the only one who was surprisingly perceptive enough to pick up on it all. For all that the boy joked around and made a fool of himself, Trini had never had a friend so caring and empathetic. She didn’t know what she would do without him. 

\--

That very night, Trini jolted awake, heart hammering in her chest. Her fingers tore straight through the thin sheets she grasped in her white-knuckled fists. She looked wildly around, taking note of her surroundings to try and calm her racing heart rate and her laboured breathing. The sharp metallic features of the bedroom in the ship finally came into focus, her blurry vision managing to clear. She shivered, covered in a cold sweat, but the temperature of the room was pretty cold and the thin duvet that Trini had found in the ship’s storage didn’t do much to warm her up

It had been a while since she had woken up so violently. The nightmare had been an especially bad one, perhaps the worst Trini had in a long time

A cold feeling washed over Trini as she looked around the room - the bare, impersonal features of the room sticking out worse than before. She didn’t belong here. She didn’t belong anywhere. The urge to run overtook her, made her muscles ache and her heart race, her very soul was restless and burning to leave. Trini forced herself to take deep breaths and calm herself down. She didn’t need to make any of the others panic by alerting them through the bond. Instead, she swung out of bed, her bare feet recoiling from the freezing cold temperature of the floor beneath her. 

It was unfair to call it a bedroom - it was a dorm more than anything. A bunk room. A military housing unit. Somewhere where a girl of seventeen didn’t belong and didn’t deserve to be. There was something achingly empty about it, the echoing space and the bland grey. It was like there was no way to know anyone had been there from looking at the room. It could have housed many or none, there was nothing to show for it if it was the former. There was no way that anyone could truly call this home and Trini ached for her bedroom in her parent’s house, no matter how bad life had seemed beforehand. No matter how much she had wanted to leave back then, she now simply wanted the comfort of somewhere that belonged to her. 

But, Trini mused, as she pulled on a thick hoodie over her old thin t-shirt, nothing had ever belonged to her. Her presence anywhere had always been temporary, like a ticking clock hung over her head. She knew that there was nowhere really for her specifically, but she had yearned for there to be her whole life. Now she was drifting, alone and empty. 

She scoffed at herself. ‘Stop being so dramatic,’ Trini muttered under her breath, the faint words echoing off the metal walls and beams, magnifying and making the bitterness of her tone all the starker. Instead of addressing her feelings, she stalked out of the ship, ignoring Alpha-5’s beeps of protest. 

The moon shone brightly in the sky, round and full and white against the black inky night. Stars dotted it like freckles, pinpricks of light that were unreachable no matter how close she felt to grabbing them out of the sky. Her breath puffed out, visible in a cloud of condensation before her, as she walked the cliffs. 

There was a figure, shrouded in darkness and shadow, sitting on the edge of one of the cliffs that she frequented, but Trini wasn’t perturbed. She sat down, sharp shards of rock and grit digging into her skin through her sweatpants. Zack sniffled, the quiet of the night doing nothing to mask the sounds of his sorrow. But Trini didn’t comment on anything, simply sat there, waiting for Zack to speak first. 

‘I felt your panic through the bond.’ he said finally, his voice husky and thick with emotions. 

‘Yeah? Well, why were you awake to feel it?’ She said gently, not prodding for anything in particular but trying to show that it was ok if he wanted to talk about it. Instead, Zack just grumbled something low and indiscernible. Trini let it pass, sighing deeply as she looked at the shadowy scenery before her. It was easy to think of Angel Grove as beautiful from up here, especially at night. A sea of sparkling lights by an expanse of silvery sea. But Trini felt more bitterness at the sight than awe. This place had taken everything from her. She was thankful that it had given her Jason, Kim, Billy and Zack, but the rest of this bullshit she could live without. It was no doubt that they were all worse off thanks to their experiences but it was obvious that they couldn’t expect anything to let up. It was a full-time job - being a Ranger - and it was one that weighed heavily on all of them. 

Zack stayed quiet, the two of them sitting in each other’s silent company for a while, relishing in the peace gained from unspoken understanding and space to breathe. It seemed that it was only around the others that the pressure on Trini’s chest let up for a little bit, before she was alone again and it was like she was drowning. She knew that she needed to get help, that she was struggling with it all, but there was part of her that just didn’t let Trini seek it out. It persuaded her that the others were better off without her and that she was just being dramatic. She didn’t need to bother anyone with her so-called problems and she just needed to suck it up. 

In theory, Trini knew that part of her was wrong and that she shouldn’t listen to it, but it gave her an easy option and Trini was ashamed to admit she was weak enough to take it. This wasn’t the hero that she was supposed to be - a true Power Ranger wouldn’t be struggling like she was, wouldn’t be haunted by nightmares, hated by her family, or weak enough to take the easy way out. Her argument with Kim flashed back into her head, as it tended to do. But, Kim had said that she didn’t think Trini was really the person that she thought she was. It was the same without the public. As Trini, the citizens of Angel Grove had no idea what she was really like, but as a Power Ranger, they didn’t either. They saw her as some sort of idol, or a vigilante or a hero or whatever, but she was none of those things, and it terrified her that something that meant so much to her, helping people, could be threatened by the person that she actually was. 

She certainly wasn't a hero. And that wasn't self-doubt or pity speaking, that was the knowledge that there was no way that she would ever be enough to take up such a mantle as that of a superhero believing that she was meant for it. This wasn't what Trini was born for, surely. If she was, perhaps she would have been good enough at it to morph quicker, to let the others in earlier, to be honest, enough with Kim about how she was feeling after getting kicked out

But here she was, sitting on a cliff and near tears because she couldn't even get through a night without breaking down. How could Trini be enough to help people when she couldn’t even help herself? Trini was no hero. The shame weighed heavily on her shoulders, no matter how much she tried to ignore it. It all seemed a little easier, though, sitting with Zack and not feeling so alone for once in her life. Zack was her best friend, her favourite person after Kim, and she was happy to be there for him if he needed. But she couldn’t deny that she needed him there as much as he did her. 

 

\--

The day dawned cold but bright, the pink and orange and yellow hues mixing into a golden glare in Trini’s eyes. She blearily rose, blinking and readjusting before she saw it. A tall plume of dreadful dark smoke, stark against the pale blue of the morning sky. Her blood ran cold, her heart thumping in her head and she blindly shoved Zack awake. 

’Dude, we really gotta go. Now.’ 

Zack peers, confused and sleepy in the direction that Trini is pointing. The sight makes him pale, all trace of drowsiness erased from his face. He immediately starts to contact Zordon and Jason through his watch, calling out in desperation. After they don’t get a response from either of them, Trini tried to call Kim both on her communicator and her phone whilst Zack tried Billy. Again, neither answers. Eventually, the two of them have to face facts. At least until Jason and the others arrive, they have to deal with whatever is happening on their own.

Even as her feet slap against the sharp stone of the cliffs, the yellow armour is creeping around her shoulders, forming on her hands and moulding around her legs. By the time she reaches the bottom of the mountain, both her and Zack are armour-clad and racing into action, still calling the others through the comms in their helmets. 

Trini summons her Zord, leaping into the cockpit as it comes thundering towards her from the ship. Zack does the same, with her racing ahead whilst he does so. There was no time to waste. They had no way to anticipate this attack, no way to deal with it properly and no way to know what to expect until they reached the town. 

People’s screams grew louder as they approached and there was destruction everywhere - it seemed that they had only just fixed up the town and now it was being ruined again. It was just like the chaos during Rita’s attack or the invisible assailant. Everyone seemed confused and didn’t know how to deal with the situation. Immediately, Trini rushes to help people, ushering them to safety and out of the danger of the main street. It seemed that only the biggest parts of town were being attacked so her and Zack quickly moved people out of the immediate danger and told them to make sure their families were safe. 

Unlike with invisible enemy, they could see the source of the chaos. They just couldn’t latch on it. All that the two of them were able to see were glimpse and clashed of bright green or gold in the corner of their eyes. Trini felt herself begin to panic. Those colours didn’t bode well and she doubted that just her and Zack would be able to deal with another Rita attack on their own. Especially considering that, due to her reaction right now, she doubted that she would even be able to move if she had to face Rita. 

Something sparked and exploded to Trini’s left and she immediately leapt into action, stopping a streetlight from crushing a couple of civilians. ‘Go!’ she yelled, once she had pushed the light back to the amazed stares of the people she saved. Her urgent tone seemed to spark them into action, the three of them running down the street, away from all the chaos. Trini rejoined Zack, their Zords behind them, as if waiting or guarding them. 

‘Have you got anything from the others?’ 

‘No,’ Zack replied, his tone grave. ‘I don’t know what else to do.’ 

‘There’s no way that one of us can go look for them, there’s only two of us and we will both be needed if something happens.’ Trini mused, keeping an eye out all around for anything moving or suspicious. The area was weirdly quiet, but Trini knew that whatever the threat was, was simply waiting to pounce. She wouldn’t let herself underestimate the danger at hand - there was a possibility that Zack or someone else could get hurt if she did and there was no way that she could live with herself if that happened. 

Zack nodded. ‘For now, I guess we just have to deal with it.’ 

‘Shit,’ Trini groaned. 

‘What a mood, at this point,’ agreed Zack, nodding. The two of them drifted until they were back to back, methodically circling and keeping an eye on everything so as not to be surprised. It was a comforting weight, the feel of Zack against her back, the black armour stark against hers, the sun glinting off the shiny metal. Suddenly, she felt Zack tense and yell, ‘Incoming!’ 

She whirled around to be at his side, and he was right to yell incoming. Flying through the air, as if pouncing, was a Green Ranger. Trini felt her heart stop as thoughts of Rita filled her head. She froze, her limbs not listening to her brain’s frantic messages. Zack met the other Ranger halfway, a clash sounding as they collided. ‘What are you doing?’ He yelled, not breaking eye contact with whoever he was fighting. 

Trini was shocked into action by the sound of his voice. Her fear didn’t matter, she had to overcome it. She couldn’t leave Zack to face this on his own. Besides, who said that it was Rita in that armour at all? She struck the assailant below the ribs, before dancing out of the way of the counter-attack. The two of them made a good team, with one of them keeping the Green Ranger occupied whilst the other laid a barrage of attacks on them. They kept moving, pushing and switching and not letting the Green Ranger get the upper hand for even a second. That wasn’t to say that Green wasn’t a formidable enemy. Even with two of them, they were struggling to stay in control of the fight, and the style they were forced to use was tiring and ineffective if Green had a good enough defence. 

Her breathing was laboured, her chest heavy and her limbs weary. She could feel the effects of the fight being to wear her down, but she stood strong. Training was useless if she wasn’t prepared for this and Trini had spent far too many hours in that fucking ship for this to not go her way. Trini met a blow aimed at her head from Green at the same split second as Zack kicked out at the legs of the mysterious fighter. Green stumbled and Trini and Zack immediately bore down on them, refusing to waste this chance. 

Trini could feel Zack’s desperation, his frustration and anger and desire to just fucking punch something. The fire burning his veins was unmistakable as the same that coursed through her own body. She could feel his satisfaction at being able to finally fight something as hard as he was able to. There was a sick satisfaction in the feeling of a punch landing, the shock that it sent up their arms, the crunch of armour against armour, the sting that kept them aware and alert. 

She wasn’t going to let him down, so they kept Green down, not letting them surprise the two of them with any attack. But Green sprang back up as if the two of them weren’t even there. Trini sighed but went back on the defensive, meeting Green blow for blow and pushing harder than ever whilst Zack tried to land a couple of attacks. But it was almost like as they waned, their opponent grew faster, sharper and stronger. Even with two of them, matching Green was difficult and through the exhilaration and exhaustion and rush of adrenaline, Trini began to recognise the fact that it would be pretty difficult for Green to lose unless the others turned up pretty pronto. 

Sure enough, as if summoned, she heard the familiar whoosh of Kim’s Zord, the sound of the boys’ Zords’ footsteps straight after. Her heart skipped a beat with joy, exultation rushing through her veins at the knowledge that the three of them were safe and they were here to help. Hearing Kim over the comms gave her new energy and determination, putting a fire that hadn’t been present behind the attacks that she waged against Green.

‘What the fuck is happening?’ She heard Jason yell over the comms.

‘Evil Ranger, again. Strong. Help.’ She grunted out in short breaths, taking a blow to the arm from Green but Zack landed a punch to the face that they hadn’t seen coming. 

‘Of fucking course.’ Kim mutters darkly over the comms, and Trini held back a laugh. Trust Kim to be able to make her smile in the middle of a battle. 

‘Not the time, Hart. Get down here.’ Zack shouted though they could all hear the smile in his voice. At least until Green kicked out at his knee and he fell to the ground. There had been a sickening snapping sound and it made them all wince. Facing an evil Ranger meant that all their Ranger strength was simply reciprocated in their enemy. Trini pressed on, sending a flurry of punches powered by rage and concern as Billy exited his Zord and rushed to Zack’s side. 

‘Jason! Help Trini! You too, Kim!’ the Blue Ranger yelled, trying to hold Zack up and keep his breathing steady through the pain. Trini placed her panic and concern for Zack to the side, pushing it to the back of her mind and allowing her body to pilot on instinct and emotion alone, the desire to make sure that her friend was ok, to ensure that Kim, now fighting alongside her, didn’t get hurt as well, to make sure that they all made it out of this mostly unscathed, all powering her fighting. 

She got caught defenceless, a couple rough blows landing on her, though her armour took the brunt of the force from these attacks. Trini could sense Green’s frustration and desire to end this quickly in the way that they pressed on harder, let loose wild attacks and became more unpredictable. Kim and Trini used this to their advantage, taking the brunt of the blows and matching Green, fist for fist and kick for kick, whilst Jason landed punches and attacks that the evil Ranger simply couldn't dodge. 

‘It’s over, Rita!’ Jason yelled out, growling and low. A scathing cackle was all that he received in return. ‘When will you learn to give up, for fuck’s sake?’ He spat at her, throwing an extra hard punch at the Ranger’s face for good measure, y’know, in case they hadn’t got the message at this point. 

A particularly well placed and timed punch knocked them off balance and they fell to the floor, knees cracking sickeningly on the hard pavement. Their head bowed yet they chuckled. Trini shook her head and stood back, panting from exertion as the other two handled the last part of it. Or so they had thought. Suddenly, the visor of the Green Ranger melted away in a shimmering transformation. When they raised their head, a breath escaped her lips, one that she didn’t even realise that she was holding, and it seemed to have been punched from her. Because this was a true blow. 

Tommy’s face was covered in sweat and she wore a fierce expression. She spat on the shiny red armour of Jason, who had physically recoiled at the sight of someone he had considered a friend in the green armour. Kim wore a look of horror on her face and Trini could hear Billy breathe out a sigh of disbelief and betrayal over the comms. Trini was inclined to agree with his feelings, her heart stuttering in her chest.

She couldn’t believe that Tommy would be the one to take up Rita’s mantle, and she found herself trying to think through the ways that this could be a trick, but there was no way to reason it or figure it out. It was simply a betrayal, one of the highest calibre that left her reeling and wounded. Perhaps this was the aim, after all, perhaps everything that Tommy had confessed, about seeking them out for protection, had been a lie to make sure that she could really take them down from within. 

If so, she hated to say it, but it had worked. Trini felt like the world was falling down around her ears, the pieces on fire just to make sure that it was really shitty. It had taken weeks for Trini to get past her mistrust and let Tommy in but now she was regretting it all, wishing that she had listened to her instincts, if only to have avoided this betrayal. 

‘You fucking Rangers think that you’re so special,’ Tommy sneered, the expression on her face like a bullet in their hearts. She spat blood, grimacing at them. ‘But you’re all so pathetic!’

‘Who is the one on the floor, defeated, right now?’ Jason asked, his tone dry but voice cracking slightly. Kim took a step back as he started talking and stood by Trini. The taller girl held out her arms and Trini eagerly fell into them, knowing that Kim needed it as much as she did. 

Tommy sneered, the glint of hatred in her eyes all too real. ‘I’m exactly where I want to be.’ 

As soon as she finished saying the words, Trini stepped forward, anticipating something. There was a sudden explosion, a blast of heat and fire in her face, shrapnel and shards of debris flying everywhere. Trini flew backwards from the sheer force of the explosion, flung away from the confrontation. There was no time for her to think of anything, to realise anything other than the screaming of her best friends in her ears as everything went back and she lost consciousness.

\--

When she came to, Trini felt alone. There was no sign that any of the others were near her, but then again, Trini was so dizzy and confused that she wasn’t sure of anything. All she could see was grey, dust and dirt circling in the air and swirling all around her, sticking to her skin and in her throat. The ringing in her ears was deafening, only silence and splitting ringing running through her head. She numbly registered the state of the world around her as she lay there, blinking roughly and trying to come to her senses. The shards of glass and metal and rock littering the ground were digging into her back, making her realise that she had de-morphed, this fact being the one that finally motivated her to wake up from her stupor. 

Panicked, Trini tried to focus on the bonds she could normally feel in her chest, the things that she thought about when she normally tried to morph. It was important that no one knew who she was, or else they were all screwed. But nothing happened. No yellow armour materialised, and Trini couldn’t feel the others on the edge of her subconscious as she normally did. The presences that she had come to recognise as Kim, Zack and Billy were all dulled, like they were unconscious or something but Jason’s was just gone. 

The worse thought immediately popped into her head and she snapped. Trini could think of nothing other than the image of Jason, broken and bloodied and alone as he took his last breath. She could see nothing other than one of her best friends suffering alone and she refused to do that to him. Trini forced herself to burst into action - or she would have, had it been physically possible. Unfortunately, in the blast, she had injured herself pretty badly and could barely feel anything other than blinding pain let alone struggle to her feet. Nevertheless, Trini tried to get herself off the floor, and her head spun and her chest rattled, pain bursting from so many places. Her head buzzed, her thoughts blurry. Her vision was cloudy and she couldn’t focus. All she could feel was the rattling in her chest, the dull pain in her head and heavy, unbearable weight of her limbs. Trini tried to push herself up but halfway through, her arms gave out and she collapsed back on the ground. The sharp grit of the asphalt dug into her cheek as she lay there, her ears ringing. 

She had to get up, find Jason, make sure he was ok. She would never be able to forgive herself if something had happened to him and she just lay here instead of helping. But no matter how much Trini willed herself to get up, she couldn’t do it. Every time, it ended the same way, her face pressed into the ground and her body aching more than before. 

She saw the dust settle and the world appeared in more shades than the ash grey that had filled her field of vision, but still, she stayed there on the ground, too weak and numb to move. Eventually, she more felt than heard footsteps approach. She peered up into the grimy, dirty face of Tommy Oliver. She felt physically disgusted at the sight, a visceral and visible reaction to the face of the ‘friend’ that almost literally stabbed them all in the back. If anyone else was injured and it was Tommy’s fault, Trini knew that she would never be able to forgive herself for not dealing with the threat before she attacked. The other girl was covered in blood and dust, her armour battered and scratched, but she wore a victorious, smug grin on her face. Anger coursed through her veins at the sight of it and Trini lunged to punch her in the face, but Tommy simply leaned back and she collapsed back on to the rough ground, groaning softly at the pain blooming from her side due to the strain of her actions. 

‘Oh, how the mighty fall.’ The words sounded bitter and twisted coming from Tommy’s mouth but the other girl was still wearing a crooked grin, the sparkle of arrogance and righteousness glimmering in her dark, greedy eyes. This was not the girl that had sat with them for weeks, barely saying anything, or the new kid that had nervously babbled and followed Trini around on the first day. She didn’t know what had happened, what had managed to corrupt her enough to become the new Rita, but there was nothing Trini could do now. If only she had caught the threat earlier. This was all her fault

‘What do you want, you bastard?’ Trini spat the words, sharper than even the flint in her eyes, though some of the anger that she flung at the other girl she knew should be directed at herself. After all, she was supposed to be some sort of hero. What kind of hero lets an evil villain befriend them and betray them and hurt those they love? ‘Where the fuck is Jason? Tell me!’

’Don’t you worry about that, Trini,’ Tommy said, her tone placating, condescending and patronising. Trini glared daggers but could barely move so she knew the level of threat that she posed to Tommy was minimal. The other girl placed a hand on her shoulder that, in any other context, would seem comforting. But to Trini, it just seemed to be forcing her to stay down, like she was defeated. Like there was nothing she could do. 

She yearned to throw it off the second that it landed on her shoulder, but she was physically too weak to do so. Emotionally, she was as well. The person in front of her still looked like Tommy, still bore so much resemblance to the person that she had grown to value so much in her life that Trini struggled to switch immediately to hating her. After all, this was so different to what Tommy was normally like that Trini couldn’t help but harbour the hope that this was all a trick, that none of this was real.

‘In fact,’ Tommy’s face twisted again as she continued, her smile malicious and sparkling with bad intentions. ‘Why don’t you just relax?’ As she said the words, a sharp, crooked grin spreading across her face as she did so, Tommy shoved her power coin in front of Trini’s face, her vision full of it. Then, there was only green before nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gasp*
> 
> :D
> 
> sorry for being gone for like 10000 years. as i said, i gotta lot of work lately, but i wil try to update as regularly as possible. hope yall enjoy and again, apologies for any occness or cringe, which this chapter has a lot of
> 
> hmu on tumblr @ unhauntng if you want
> 
> chapter title taken from tiger jaw's "escape plan"

**Author's Note:**

> This contains several headcanons from tumblr. Please ask me if you want credit.


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